Donald Trump is plotting his return to television. The former president’s company Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) is currently building out a streaming service, which will be home to undoubtedly highbrow broadcasting like “canceled content” and “non-fake news.”
Per The Hollywood Reporter, TMTG — which is led by CEO Devin Nunes — recently unveiled their mess of an S-1 filing, which attempts to outline their specific plans: “TMTG+ intends to offer programs including, but not limited to blue collar comedy, canceled shows, Trump-specific programming, faith-based shows, family entertainment, shows that embrace the Second Amendment, and news. TMTG intends to license, produce, and deliver news, sports, and non-woke entertainment content through this platform.”
These plans sound pretty ambitious, especially considering Trump’s Twitter replica Truth Social is, like most of his projects, a disaster. The filing goes on: “Though similar to Netflix, Disney+, and other current offerings, TMTG intends to produce or acquire entertainment simply for entertainment’s sake… TMTG will not censor the creators of entertainment for TMTG+, nor will it insist that its programming push some particular political ideology.”
But, in true Trump fashion, the filing contradicts itself. In another section, it claims that “TMTG+ will provide a platform for conservative and/or libertarian views, and otherwise canceled content from other broadcast television and/or digital streaming platforms.” We’re not ones to be too nit-picky over here, but that sure sounds like political ideology plays into what will be available on the streaming service.
In addition to also specifying plans to launch a podcast network, the filing outlines a license agreement with Trump: “If President Trump receives a bona fide offer to be featured on any non-TMTG streaming video production or on any non-TMTG podcast platform, TMTG has the right to create a substantially similar video production or podcast opportunity on terms more favorable than those offered by the non-TMTG service providers,” the filing reads. In summary: Trump will only appear on other companies’ streaming platforms if they can pay him more money than TTMG will.
Assuming TTMG+ does come to fruition, the best possible outcome for the rest of us is that this new venture keeps Trump too occupied to return to Twitter. But with the knowledge that his false or misleading claims totaled over 30,000 during his presidency, it’s best to take anything he says with a grain of salt.
