Elon Musk reinstated twice impeached former president Donald Trump’s Twitter account last week, despite the fact that Trump regularly used the platform to spread misinformation, as well as encourage his followers during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
But apparently, Trump is abstaining from returning, in a move that really threw Jimmy Fallon for a loop.
Indeed, Trump has not tweeted since his reinstatement. His last tweet is from Jan. 8, 2021, saying, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” Trump also hasn’t liked any tweets, further confirming that the account remains inactive. And according to Trump, it’s going to stay that way.
“What? I’m shocked,” Fallon marveled during his monologue on Monday. “It’s like Trump driving by a McDonald’s without stopping.”
Trump is opting to stay on his own social media platform, Truth Social, despite complaining multiple times — alongside several other conservative voices — that it wasn’t fair to be kicked off Twitter in the first place. But that logic at least made some sense to Fallon.
“He was like, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t be on two failing sites at once,’” the host joked.
Musk reinstated Trump after putting up a poll on his own Twitter account, asking people to vote on whether the subject of multiple criminal investigations should be allowed back on. When the results were 52% voting in favor, 48% against, Musk tweeted an old proverb that says the voice of the people is the voice of God, indicating the decision was made based solely on the vote.
Of course, before Musk’s deal to buy Twitter was even finalized earlier this year, he indicated that he’d lift the permanent ban on Trump, calling it a “mistake”, “morally wrong” and “flat-out stupid.” Once the deal closed, the CEO said he’d hold off on any major account reinstatements until a special committee to discuss and oversee it was formed. It appears no such committee was created.
You can watch Fallon’s full monologue in the video above.
