TRUMP IS BACK ON FACEBOOK, APPARENTLY (UPDATE: NO, NOTHING'S CHANGED)

UPDATE TO THE POST BELOW: I fell for a rumor that Donald Trump was back on Facebook. It's true that his Facebook page is up and is open for comments and likes -- unlike his Twitter, which was wiped clean -- but this has been true since Trump was banned from Facebook.

Apparently these pages have always been visible. So the fact that they are visible today is not a change.

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 2, 2021

See this L.A. Times story from April:

At first glance, Donald Trump’s Facebook page seems like it’s been dead for months....

But that’s not the whole story. Because like a whale carcass that sinks to the ocean floor, entire ecosystems popping up in the shadow of its slowly decomposing husk, the comments field below that last post is now a vibrant feeding ground where Trump’s fans and critics still converge, months later, to argue, troll and pay homage.

Below you'll see Trump flack Jason Miller responding affirmatively on Twitter to someone named Amy Tarkanian, who asks whether Trump might be on the verge of "joining another social media platform." Tarkanian was also the source for Gateway Pundit's claim -- now withdrawn -- that Trump was back on Twitter.

Amy Tarkanian is the wife of Danny Tarkanian, the son of legendary basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian and an unsuccessful candidate for several offices in Nevada over the past two decades. Amy Tarkanian is a GOP strategist and a former state party chairwoman. Either she was duped or she was tasked with spreading the rumor that Trump would be back on Facebook soon. And I fell for it.

Original post below:

I'm seeing a lot of schadenfreude in response to this:

Former President Donald Trump’s blog — a webpage where he shared statements after larger social media companies banned him from their platforms — has been permanently shut down, his spokesman said Wednesday.

The page “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” has been scrubbed from Trump’s website after going live less than a month earlier.

It “will not be returning,” his senior aide Jason Miller told CNBC.

“It was just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on,” Miller said via email.

No one liked it, no one read it, and now it's gone. So we won! He lost! Right?

Maybe not:

Yes, actually, it is. Stay tuned! https://t.co/USKGvVXe2f

— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) June 2, 2021

And it appears that the social medial platform in question is ... Facebook. Gateway Pundit reports:

President Donald Trump’s Facebook account appeared to be reinstated on Wednesday.

The page states that he is a “political candidate,” but does not currently have any posts since January 6.

Though he has not posted, people have been able to comment and interact with the previous posts.

Click the link (https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/). This appears to be the real deal. Gee, thanks, Mark!

Maybe this is a technical glitch and the page will vanish again. Maybe it'll stay up but Trump won't be able to post. Maybe this is a soft reopening -- old page first, new posts in a few days or weeks.

I've had the thought that a Trump comeback might be good for America. It might remind Trump haters who don't pay a lot of attention to politics -- or who were paying attention but have responded to the Biden presidency by concluding that it's safe to tune out the news -- that it's still dangerous out there, and the SOB is still a threat to America. It worries me that Trump on Facebook might be a motivator to GOP voters in 2022 -- but it's possible they won't turn out unless he's on the ballot, and maybe anti-Trump voters will turn out if he's a noxious presence again.

So is this a response to that compelled-online-speech bill Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed late last month? Could be.

If this really is the return of Trump to Facebook, it might be an excellent time to cancel your account, if you haven't already.