Did The Twitter Ban Hurt The Trump Campaign's Fundraising Efforts?

Have you been keeping up with Donald Trump's Twitter saga? How about Trump's lawsuit against Twitter? In either case, new information shows that the former President of the United States may not need social media to reach his followers — or amass donations from them.

Before his account was permanently suspended, Trump used Twitter to lash out at his critics and rally his devoted followers all in the name of making America great again. While these tweets began appearing more often in 2015 when the former television personality began running for office, strongly worded tweets from him date back to when Twitter was still an infant in the social media family.

Then the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionist attack on the Capitol happened. Many believed this to be an inside coup, with Trump leading the attack through his vitriol. He even explained how he felt about the Capitol riot. In any case, this led Twitter to take charge after years of its users pleading for a remedy. The company suspended his account, at first temporarily and then permanently.

When the latter was decided, Twitter released a statement saying, "After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," placing the decision in the context of the Capitol riot.

Now, let's see if the Twitter ban has affected Trump's campaign fundraising efforts.

According to CNN, Donald Trump had about 89 million followers on Twitter when the social network suspended his account. But did his suspension hinder his fundraising efforts? Voters across the United States showed up to election polls in droves last November, and historically red states like Georgia flipped, giving Joe Biden the 2020 presidential win (via NPR).

This was before the Capitol right, though — an act of defiance against the new president-elect. No amount of fundraising could have shielded Trump from this, yet his numbers remained astounding. According to Business Insider, a July 2021 financial meeting of Trump's organizers showed that he'd accrued over $100 million in donations, with Trump gaining approximately $1 million to $2 million each week.

Trump has been hinting at a 2024 run for the highest office in the land, but this money cannot be used for a presidential election, though it's fair to use for any existing efforts. Per Business Insider, Trump's three fundraising organizations are the Make America Great Again PAC, the Save America PAC, and the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee.

What does this mean? Well, it means Trump's followers are loyal and dedicated. Even without Twitter, he's able to amass a million dollars in one week's time. Twitter's suspension, if anything, helped him. It made his followers view him as a victim and therefore donate more to combat what they believe to be the corrupt media.

As for what's next for the former president: Some believe Trump is launching his own social media network. Stay tuned.