Donald Trumpjoined TikTokon Saturday evening and has already posted his first video - a montage of his evening at a UFC fight in New Jersey,just days after he became a convicted felon.
The flashy, 13-second launch video shows Trump entering the arena and waving to fans and posing for selfies.
It saw Trump shaking hands and taking selfies with different fans at the UFC fight.
'The president is now on TikTok', Trump was introduced by UFC president Dana White, before saying directly to the camera, 'It's my honor' while American Bad Ass by Kid Rock played in the background.
Donald Trump joined TikTok on Saturday evening and posted his first video - a montage of his evening at a UFC fight in New Jersey. He appeared alongside UFC president Dana White
The flashy launch video showed Trump entering the arena, waving to fans, posing for selfies
@realdonaldtrump Launching my TikTok at @UFC 302.
♬ original sound - President Donald J Trump
At the end of the video, Trump leans close to the camera and asks: 'That was a good walk on, right?'
At the end of the video, Trump leans close to the camera and asks, 'That was a good walk on, right?'
The former president aptly captioned his first TikTok: 'Launching my TikTok at UFC 302.'
Trump appeared to rack up 220,000 followers within just a few hours, although that is a mere fraction of the 170 million TikTok users in the United States and more than 1 billion monthly active users globally.
Trump became acquainted with TikTok during his recent hush money trial.
Last week, while waiting for the verdict in a back room at the courthouse, his eldest son, Don Jr., introduced his father to the platform.
The pair of them appeared in a TikTok together as they discussed their next mean tweet.Don Jr. currently has 345,000 followers and also just started using the app last week.
Trump joining TikTok - and reaching potential younger voters - comes after the app might be banned altogether in the coming months if it doesn't divest from its Chinese owner ByteDance, after Biden signed a law in April forcing a sale.
Last week, while waiting for the verdict in a back room at the courthouse, his eldest son, Don Jr introduced his father to the platform. Don Jr. also joined TikTok last week
However, Trump wasn't always a supporter of the app either and during his presidency tried to ban the addictive app citing national security concerns.
Similar to Trump,Joe Biden's campaign joined TikTok in February and has 334,000 followers.
Trump has said he believes ByteDance is still a threat to national security but that blocking the app would anger young Americans and only serve to help Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
Trump was suspended from Facebook for two years following the Capitol Riot in 2021.
He has said that he considers 'Facebook to be an enemy of the people along with a lot of the media.'
As Saturday night's TikTok shows, the president's 34 convictions did nothing to dim the excitement of around 17,000 fans at the Prudential Center in Newark, who were on their feet with excitement as the guest of honor entered the arena at 10 pm.
Trump, who served as US president from 2017 to 2020, was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records on Thursday, as a jury reached a verdict in his hush money trial.
He received a loud ovation as he entered the arena with chants of 'USA, USA!' breaking out, after Trump followed the entrance of fighter Sean Strickland.
'He is getting a standing ovation from the assembled masses,' one of the fight's commentators said.
Former US President Donald Trump walks into a LOUD ovation at #UFC302 pic.twitter.com/NdkiGi2dPg
— Leocciano Callao (@leocciano) June 2, 2024
Donald Trump really got a standing ovation at UFC 302 💀 pic.twitter.com/mBkWB2E5Iz
— BAY AREA STATE OF MIND (@YayAreaNews) June 2, 2024
Donald Trump was given a standing ovation as arrived at UFC 302 in New Jersey - just days after he became a convicted felon
As Trump walked into the arena, he was greeted by popular comedian Theo Von, who eagerly shook the president's hand. Trump smiled at Von and affectionately patted him on the shoulder.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was also in attendance, appeared on the screen and received a standing ovation.
Spotlights swept around the arena and loud rock music blared from the speakers.
Chants of 'we want Trump' and 'f**k Joe Biden' reverberated throughout the crowd.
In the audience, some supporters proudly waved Trump 2024 flags.
Dana White conducted Trump through the crowd. Spectators cheered and applauded the former president.
As Trump walked down the path near the ring, people leaned out of their chairs to shake his hand.
Chants of 'USA, USA!' broke out after Trump followed the entrance of fighter Sean Strickland
Without breaking his stride, Trump turned and high-fived and shook the hands of his enthusiastic supporters.
The camera remained close to Trump's face, which sported a smile and displayed a grateful expression.
At one point, the president paused and shook his fist in the air in a jubilant manner. The din of the applause was deafening.
Before sitting down, Trump waved at various members in the crowd and repeatedly mouthed 'thank you' to his ardent fans.
Trump walked right in front of Aaron Rodgers, who remained seated and watched the president pass by.
Spectators at the Prudential Center didn't look ready to sit down. Long after Trump entered, many of the people in the audience remained on their feet, cheering and filming videos of him on their phones.
'Well you had a sneaking suspicion that former president Trump would be in the building for UFC 302,' the commentator narrated.
'Boy, the round of applause he's getting right now is pretty staggering,' Joe Rogan, the other commentator, said in disbelief.
At one point, the president paused and shook his fist in the air in a jubilant manner. The din of the applause was deafening
The camera remained close to Trump's face, which by turns smiled and displayed a grateful expression
On his way over to his ringside seat, Trump paused at the broadcaster's box and shook hands with Joe Rogan.
Rogan can be heard saying, 'Thank you, sir.'
Trump took his seat at the corner of the ring, from which place he watched the Makhachev vs. Poirier fight.
While the president watched the fight, a 'f**k Joe Biden' chant erupted.
Trump raised his fist in the air and crowd cheered with pleasure.
After fighter Kevin Holland defeated Michal Oleksiejzcuk, he climbed out of the cage and shook Trump's hand.
The UFC athlete appeared excited to be shaking the former president's hand.
Holland whispered something to Trump, who then patted the athlete's hand.
The jury in Trump's trial found he illegally influenced the 2016 election by hiding a $130,000 hush money payment to p*rn star Stormy Daniels - who has claimed to have a consensual sexual encounter with Trump a decade prior (Trump has denied that).
Each count carries a possible maximum sentence of up to four years in prison.
Trump will be sentenced by on July 11, although a custodial sentence is unlikely to follow.
He is the first president in US history to be convicted of a felony and raged against the 'rigged' trial, which he claims was politically-motivated as his 2024 re-election campaign continues to gather steam.
The jury in Trump's trial found he illegally influenced the 2016 election by hiding a $130,000 hush money payment to p*rn star Stormy Daniels
Trump raised an astonishing $52 million in donations to his White House campaign in the 24 hours following the guilty verdicts, suggesting many of his supporters agree that his convictions were unfair.
A DailyMail.com poll conducted on Thursday night after the verdict was announced found that positive views of Trump among the electorate as a whole surged by six percentage points.
During a news conference on Friday, Trump touted the results of the survey, declaring it as evidence that the American people are rallying to his side.
Trump faces three other criminal trials for mishandling classified documents, trying to influence the result of the 2020 election and stoking the January 6 riots.
