Donald Trump’s media company, known as Trump Media & Technology Group, announced plans Friday to roll out a new video streaming service building off the Truth Social name. It’s unclear what kind of content might appear, how much it may cost, or when this rollout is even happening exactly, but we know one thing for sure: Your most obnoxious, Trump-supporting uncle is going to love it.
In true Orwellian fashion, the streaming service will be called Truth+ and will appear during a “phased rollout,” according to a press release published online. The release mentions “beta testing,” but, again, there’s no real timeline given on when users might be able to watch. But once testing is done, it sounds like the primary way to view Truth+ content will be through the Truth Social website, as well as on apps for Android and iOS.
“By clicking the icon, users will be able to access streaming content as stand-alone channels or in a separate picture-in-picture (“PiP”) window while scrolling on the Truth Social platform,” the company said in its release. “iOS users will need to update their Truth Social app to access streaming. No updates or downloads will be required for Android or Web users.”
The release also explains that initial content will include news, commentary, weather, lifestyle, and entertainment content, but there’s no explanation of how any of that will be presented. Are we talking d-list celebrities like Kevin Sorbo discussing how wokeism is the reason your adult children won’t talk to you anymore? Or are they thinking teenage hosts rattling off the ways homework is a Communist plot to destroy America? They could go so many different directions with this.
The follow-up phase of the Truth+ rollout will apparently include “Christian content and family friendly content,” according to the press release. But that could mean any number of things, given all the blasphemous garbage Trump churns out. This is the guy, after all, who’s selling a public domain Bible for $60.
Devin Nunes, the former congressman from California turned head of Trump’s media company, is trying to sell the idea of Truth+ as a home for free speech and “great TV content,” perhaps helping expose how out of touch he is with internet culture. To be clear, there’s no indication that Truth+ will have “TV content,” but rather videos made solely for the web.
“First, we created Truth Social to provide a safe harbor for free speech on the Internet,” Nunes said in the release. “Now, we’re establishing a reliable home for great TV content that is neglected by the big corporations or is at risk of cancellation—and we are securing our own tech stack and hardware infrastructure to make our new CDN uncancellable. I look forward, in the near future, to launching many enhancements and adding great, new content to the platform.”
But that’s not all. The third phase is even more ambitious, according to the press release.
“The next phase is expected to feature the introduction of streaming apps integrated with the Truth Social platform that will offer enhanced features, including an interactive 14-day electronic guide, instant catch-up TV on any show broadcast in the previous 7 days, network DVR, video on demand, and more,” the release says.
Strangely, the news release went out early Friday morning but Trump himself hasn’t mentioned anything about Truth+ yet on his Truth Social account. That’s understandable, given the fact that he’s very preoccupied with spreading racist garbage and various conspiracy theories about Kamala Harris.
The race is very tight, judging by the polls, with Harris picking up steam after taking over the Democratic ticket from Biden less than two weeks ago. FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average currently has Harris ahead with 45%, Trump with 43.6%, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with 5.6%. But our elections aren’t determined by the popular vote. And while Harris has pulled ahead in many swing states, according to the latest polls, she needs to sustain this momentum for the next three months. Every decent American is obviously crossing their fingers on that one.
