Donald Trump returned to Instagram on Tuesday, posting for the first time since 5 January 2021, the day before the former US president incited the deadly attack on Congress which led to his suspension from major social media platforms.
Trump, who is now running to regain the White House, used his return to Instagram to promote a second edition of his digital trading cards, a project widely mocked when he announced it in December but which sold out an edition of 44,000 in less than a day, netting $4.5m.
Trump has already enjoyed a fundraising boost this month, centered on his criminal indictment in New York on 34 charges of falsification of business records, all relating to his hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who claims an affair.
The parent company of Instagram and Facebook, Meta, lifted its ban on Trump in January. Meta’s president of global affairs, the former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, said then there would be “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses”.
“In the event that Mr Trump posts further violating content,” Clegg said, “the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation.”
On Tuesday, Trump’s first post back on Instagram announced the second series of cards alongside an image of him holding the Liberty Bell against a sunset and the Stars and Stripes.
In his second post, a picture of himself as a superhero in red spandex and wearing the US flag as a cape, Trump wrote: “I hope everyone notices, and I’m sure the Fake News won’t, that I’m leaving the price of the Trading Cards the same as last time.”
He also claimed he “could have raised the price MUCH HIGHER, and I believe it still would have sold well, with a lot more money coming to me, but I didn’t choose to do so. I WILL BE GIVEN NO ‘NICE GUY’ CREDIT?”
Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, lifted its Trump ban in November. Trump has not returned, instead using Truth Social, the platform he set up after January 6.
As well as the New York indictment, Trump faces legal jeopardy over the events of January 6, his election subversion, his handling of classified material, his business affairs and an allegation of rape.
Denying all wrongdoing, he remains the clear leader in polling regarding the Republican nomination for president.
Trump’s last Instagram post before his ban was an announcement of his speech near the White House on 6 January 2021.
The House January 6 committee has shown that Trump knew members of the crowd were armed, but still told supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” to overturn his election defeat.
Mark Bowden and Matt Teague, authors of The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It, contend that the rioters “had no more chance of overthrowing the US government than hippies in 1967 had trying to levitate the Pentagon”.
But nine deaths are now linked to the riot, including law enforcement suicides.
Trump was impeached a second time, for inciting an insurrection. Escaping conviction, as enough Republican senators stayed loyal, he remains eligible to return to the Oval Office.
