A Former Aide Would Like Us to Believe Trump Is 'Happier' Without Social Media

There is almost nothing more unbelievable to me than the claim, from an ex-Trump aide, that the former president is “happier” without social media.

Nonetheless, I’m being asked to believe it: In an interview with the Sunday Times, Trump campaign strategist Jason Miller insisted that Trump is enjoying his post-presidential lifestyle in part because he’s off of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube (among others). In Miller’s telling, what is the result of an involuntary deplatforming is merely a pleasant social media hiatus for Trump.

“He’s said that not being on social media, and not being subject to the hateful echo chamber that social media too frequently becomes, has actually been good,” Miller told the Times. “That’s something the First Lady [Melania] has backed up as well. She has said she loves it, that he’s much happier and is enjoying himself much more.”

In the immediate aftermath of Twitter’s ban, Trump attempted to tweet from the @POTUS account as a workaround; it also appeared that he’d attempted to get other people to hand over their accounts for him to tweet from. In the weeks since, Trump has written out “insults and observations” and asked others to tweet them out, according to a Daily Beast report.

These are not exactly the behaviors of someone at peace with unplugging from social media. Had Trump not been banned from the platform, it’s obvious he would’ve never left. And if he ever did, he would undoubtedly be one of those people who sanctimoniously announces everyone they’re taking a Twitter break only to log back on a few hours later.

“[It’s] the first time in years that I saw the president truly relaxed,” Miller went on to tell the Times, in another statement I have no choice but to think is a blatant lie. Trump’s second impeachment trial is set to begin on Tuesday, and just a little more than a week ago Trump was tasked with scrounging up some new lawyers after his entire legal team abandoned him.