Donald Trump Gets Good News: After a delay, Truth Social will live for another day – The long-delayed SPAC merger between former President Donald Trump’s media company and a shell company will be delayed even further, although liquidation has been staved off.
Donald Trump Is Smiling
The company behind Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social media network, was meant to merge with another company, as part of the “special purpose acquisition company (SPAC)” craze of 2021. Trump Media & Technology Group was to merge with a public company called Digital World Acquisition Corp., but the merger has been delayed repeatedly, for a myriad of reasons.
There have been accusations that the two sides had discussed a merger earlier than they were legally allowed to, as well as the arrest of a former board member for insider trading. There was even a report this spring, in The Guardian, that prosecutors with the Southern District of New York were looking into whether the Trump Media side of the deal had “violated money laundering statutes in connection with the acceptance of [$8 million] with suspected Russian ties.” Digital World settled some charges with the SEC
Heading into this week, it was reported that Digital World Acquisition Corp. was facing potential liquidation, pending the outcome of a shareholder vote. Had that happened, it would have left the future of Trump Media & Technology Group and Truth Social mired in uncertainty.
However, Trump’s media company has gained another reprieve.
According to the New York Times, shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp. have approved a measure to extend the deadline by another year.
According to an SEC filing, the extension was approved by 72 percent of shareholders.
The vote, per the Times, “increases the likelihood that Trump Media & Technology Group will get access to at least $300 million in badly needed cash to operate Truth Social — a right-leaning social media platform.” That $300 million was raised by the shell company in an IPO in 2021, at the height of the SPAC fad, and had shareholders not approved the merger, they would have had to return the money to shareholders.
“Thank you for all of the outstanding support. Please understand my silence. We remain focused on the task at hand and are watching every word we say,” Eric Swider, CEO of Digital World, posted to Truth Social after the vote, per the Times.
“With this vote of confidence from DWAC shareholders, we will proceed as quickly as possible to complete our merger, which we expect will open up tremendous new opportunities to grow and expand TMTG and the Truth Social platform,” TMTG CEO Devin Nunes, who previously was an exceptionally pro-Trump member of Congress, said in a statement after the shareholder vote on Tuesday.
Trump has used Truth Social as his primary social media home for most of his post-presidency after he was banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram following the January 6 riot. Trump has since been reinstated to all of those platforms, and he returned to X (formerly known as Twitter) for one day last month, to post his mugshot following his arrest in Georgia.
However, Trump has not used X since then and has continued to use Truth Social on a daily basis. On Wednesday, he posted a link to the SEC filing, amid various shots at his enemies. The network also included a sponsored “poll,” asking “is Trump Innocent”- one sure to yield a scientific sample of unbiased Truth Social users.
“Is Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor who is continuously overturned due to his unchecked and insane aggression, investigating the political Hacks & Thugs of the highly partisan January 6th Unselect Committee for tampering with, deleting, and destroying highly Confidential & Classified documents, pictures, tapes, evidence, and all forms of other important information?,” Trump posted Tuesday about the federal prosecutor behind two of his criminal cases. If not, WHY? I fully believe it is because the evidence in question destroys his Fake, Election Interfering, case. DISMISS SUIT!”
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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