President Donald Trump’s manic posting exploded to an unprecedented level in May, a Daily Beast analysis has found.
We calculated that his average posts per day spiked to 27, or the equivalent of just over once every hour of every day.
Our analysis found that Trump posted on Truth Social an astounding 861 times last month, sharing everything from truly deranged AI-generated memes to meltdowns and even an image of him lounging shirtless in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with a bikini-clad woman.
Trump’s posting frequency was a sharp increase over April, when the Daily Beast calculated that Trump posted an average of 18 times a day. That month he could have received a full night’s sleep on only five nights given his late-night and early-morning posting.
The Beast’s new analysis found that May was Trump’s most prolific month on Truth Social since he returned to the White House, eclipsing his previous high of 782 posts and reposts in January.
At the comparable point in his first term, May 2018, Trump tweeted 238 times, widely viewed as a significant amount at the time. However, that total would have been Trump’s quietest month of MAGA 2.0 if it had occurred today. Since returning to office, his month with the fewest posts came in September, when he posted 430 times.
Trump’s spiking social media use comes as questions about his cognitive and physical health are being asked with increasing frequency. His posts, many of which come late at night, were among the warning signs recently highlighted by psychiatrist Tracy King, who told the Irish Star that “the volume, the overnight timing, and the intensity all suggest a high level of nervous system activation.”
The president had no shortage of bizarre posts in May, starting with the month’s first evening and continuing into its final weekend—when he spent his so-called “executive time” posting deranged AI-generated memes and threats.
Attacks on former President Barack Obama were a common theme in last weekend’s volley, including an image depicting the Obama Presidential Library as a giant trash can. Trump also posted an AI-generated image of him literally dunking on Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul while wearing a New York Knicks uniform.
Trump kicked off his manic month on Truth Social by posting a photo of Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries holding a baseball bat and calling him “Low IQ” and a “thug” at 11:13 p.m. on May 1.
That same night, Trump also posted a photo of himself smiling and holding Uno cards; a golden side profile of himself; his head next to presidents on Mount Rushmore; an attack on “Hussein Obama”; and mock-ups of his soon-to-be-renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The following evening, Trump posted rants totaling 481 words to whine about the “rigged 2020 presidential election” and to attack Fox News for daring to give airtime to Bill Maher.
“Fox should stop putting this person on,” he directed the MAGA-friendly network, referring to Maher. ”He’s not representing us. You look weak, stupid, and ineffective, and I hate seeing that. DON’T USE BILL MAHER ANY LONGER AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF YOU! I hate hearing that ‘Bill Maher said…’ — Bill Maher is a MORON.”
The president returned to posting AI slop on May 4.
That afternoon, he shared a cartoon image of himself alongside the words, “Leaders Lead.” Next to him was Obama, appearing to bow before Iran’s late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the caption, “Traitors Bow.” The cartoon also showed Biden kneeling with a mask on next to the words, “Cowards Kneel.”
That post came between what Trump’s public schedule shows was a policy meeting in the Oval Office and a Small Business Summit in the East Room. In the same period, the president posted an AI-generated image of former Fed Chair Jerome Powell falling into a dumpster.
Later that evening, the president self-soothed by posting multiple screenshots in which his supporters and sycophants praised his months-old State of the Union address—before he launched an unpopular war with Iran that sent gas prices through the roof.
Trump returned to Truth Social the following morning, on May 8, to share a fake image at 5:51 a.m. of a U.S. warship downing an Iranian fighter jet with the caption, “Lasers, Bing, Bing, GONE!!!”
Trump continued posting memes about the war on May 9, writing that Iranian planes are “dropping like butterflies” and that 159 Iranian ships have supposedly been sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
That same day, Trump posted a deranged AI-generated image of Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker eating junk food and a mock-up of the UFC fight scheduled to be held on the White House lawn—complete with an American flag that was missing two stars.
On May 10, Trump reshared a flurry of made-for-Facebook posts that showered him in praise, including one that claimed in all caps, “Donald Trump is now ranked among the top three presidents in U.S. history. Do you agree with this ranking?”
Another repost read, “Presidents come and go, but he will be forever remembered as the G.O.A.T.”
May 11 was Trump’s second most prolific day on Truth Social for the month. The first of his 65 posts was political endorsements, but he spiraled as the night went on. That included him sharing a post that called Obama a “traitor” and another that said Hillary Clinton should be sent to Haiti.
Reportedly fueling the president’s late-night posts is his executive assistant, Natalie Harp. The Wall Street Journal reports that the 34-year-old brings Trump stacks of printed-out drafts of social media posts—many of them recycling content from other accounts—for him to approve.
Sources tell the Journal that Trump posts some messages himself while Harp presses publish on others without approval from Chief of Staff Susie Wiles or communications staff—something that has angered some in the president’s inner circle. At a minimum, Trump views every post before it goes public, the paper reported.
Reached for comment, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told the Beast: “Truth Social has never been hotter and it’s because President Trump offers his unfiltered and direct thoughts to the American people, without the biased media taking him out of context.”
That statement and the Journal report confirm that Trump is personally signing off on each of his bizarre posts in recent months, which includes a racist video that depicted the Obamas as apes, an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ, and, most recently, an unhinged AI-generated image that portrayed Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna in a sheep costume with exaggerated vampire teeth.
Among the other AI-generated memes posted by Trump in May were claims that Democrats oppose fishing and that he is annihilating Iranian warships. Those two posts came on the morning of May 24, a day after the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., married Bettina Anderson on a private island in the Bahamas.
Trump said he was too busy to make the trip for the wedding and said he had to remain in Washington. However, he found the time to post on Truth Social 69 times over the long weekend—none of which were about his son’s wedding.
The following Saturday, despite there being no signs of peace with Iran that had supposedly kept Trump from going to the ceremony, Trump found the time to play golf at his Virginia club and fire off 70 posts to Truth Social—more posts than he made in any other day in May.
The president’s posting mania is showing no signs of slowing in June. Overnight, Trump fired off a fusillade of Truth Social updates—including a spree of 47 posts in a 31-minute period—attacking late-night comedians, referring to Canada as the “51st State,” and complaining that “Dumacrats and Media” have “gone absolutely CRAZY!!!”
