donald trump joined the popular video sharing app TikToka platform he once tried to ban while in the White House and posted on a UFC fight two days after he became the first former president and presumptive major party candidate in U.S. history to be found guilty on criminal charges.
“It’s an honor,” Trump said in the TikTok video, which features footage of him waving to fans and posing for selfies at the Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday night. The video ends with Trump saying to the camera: “It was a good walk, right?”
As of Sunday morning, Trump has amassed more than 1.1 million followers on the platform and the post has garnered more than 1 million likes and 24 million views.
“We will leave no front undefended and this represents continued outreach to a younger audience that consumes pro-Trump and anti-Biden content,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement about the campaign’s decision to join the platform.
“There is no better place than a UFC event to launch President Trump’s Tik Tok, where he received a hero’s welcome and thousands of fans cheered him on,” he added.
Democratic President Joe Biden signed legislation in April, this could ban TikTok in the US, even though its campaign joined in February and tried to work with influencers.
Trump was greeted enthusiastically at the fight at Newark’s Prudential Center, where the crowd began chanting “We love Trump!” and another insulting Biden with an expletive.
It was Trump’s first public appearance since a jury trial in New York. found him guilty Thursday on 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by covering up secret payments made to a porn star who claimed she and Trump had sex. Trump said he did nothing wrong and plans to appeal the verdict. He will be sentenced on July 11.
Throughout his campaign, Trump used appearances in UFC fights project an image of strength and try to appeal to potential voters who may not follow politics closely or interact with traditional news sources. It’s also part of a broader effort to connect with young people and minority voters, especially Latino and black men.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, is another opportunity to reach these potential voters. The platform has about 170 million users in the U.S., the majority of whom are younger — a demographic that is especially difficult for campaigns to reach because they shun television.
As president, Trump tried to ban TikTok through an executive order which said that “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned” by Chinese companies was a threat to national security. blocked the action after TikTok was sued.
Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission warned that ByteDance could share user data, such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers, with the Chinese government. TikTok said it has never done this and would not do so if asked.
The platform was a hot topic of debate during the 2024 Republican Party primary campaign, with most candidates avoiding its use. Many, including former Vice President Mike Pence, have called for TikTok to be banned in the US due to its connections to China
Trump said earlier this year that he still believes TikTok posed a national security risk but opposed its ban because it would help its rival, Facebook, which it continues to criticize for its 2020 election loss to Biden.
“Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok who love it. There are a lot of kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it,” Trump told CNBC.
The legislation signed by Biden gives ByteDance nine months to sell the company, with a possible additional three months if the sale is ongoing. Otherwise, TikTok will be banned. Biden banned the app on most government devices in December 2022.
Still, his re-election campaign uses the app, which he joined on Super Bowl night in February. Advisors argue that, in an increasingly fragmented modern media environment, the campaign should get its message across to voters across as many platforms as possible, including TikTok, as well as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Biden’s “bidenhq” account currently has more than 330,000 followers and 4.5 million likes.
Trump’s appearance at Saturday’s fight came after he sat down for an interview with Fox News Channel’s “Fox.” & Friends Weekend” which aired on Sunday.
In that appearance, Trump said he was “OK” with the prospect of a possible prison sentence or house arrest, saying it was “the way it is.”
But he again suggested that the public might not accept such punishment for a former president now running to return to the White House.
“I don’t know if the public could stand it, you know. I’m not sure the public would accept that,” he said. “I think it would be difficult for the public to accept. You know, at a certain point there is a breaking point.”
Trump, like he did throughout the trialHe maintained his innocence, saying he “did absolutely nothing wrong.”
He was asked how his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, took the news.
“She’s fine. But I think it’s really hard for her. I mean, she’s fine. But, you know, she has to read all this crap,” he said.
She did not appear with Trump in court at any point during the seven-week trial.
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Colvin reported from Annapolis, Maryland, Weissert from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and Kinnard from Chapin, South Carolina.
