We have not seen the last of Donald Trump.

The former president of the United States may be out of office and barred from social media. But this week, after months of speculation, he took a big step to regaining his bully pulpitA position from which someone can speak out on any issue. The term was coined by the US president Theodore Roosevelt to describe his own office..

It began when his son Donald Trump Jr tweeted a link. This led to a new website called Truth Social: a new social media platform promising "Open, free and honest debateDespite this claim, the website has also said it will not allow users to post criticism of itself.".

In a press release, the ex-president said: "I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech." TMTG is the Trump Media and Technology Group, Trump's new company. It has already been valued at $875m.

Trump's claim to own the truth will raise more than a few eyebrows. The ex-president has an infamously loose relationship with truth. The Washington Post recorded 30,573 "False or misleading statements" during his time as president. In his final year, he made an average of 39 such claims per day.

After he lost office in 2020, he lied that the election had been stolen from him, despite no evidence. These fibs inspired a rabid mob to attack the US Capitol. Trump's tactic was to trumpet a lie until it became drilled into people's heads as the truth. He is not the first to have done this.

In his 1948 novel 1984, British author George Orwell presented a dystopian society that controls people's thoughts by bombarding them with falsehoods, including the paradoxical slogan "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength".

Orwell was drawing on a rich bank of real life totalitarianismA system of government that forces citizens to follow the will of the state.. Nazi propagandaInformation, which may be biased or misleading, used to promote a certain viewpoint. minister Joseph Goebbels is alleged to have said: "Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth." Hitler went so far as to accuse opponents of supporting a made-up big lieIn his book Mein Kampf, Hitler claimed that Jewish people had spread a "groSse Luge" in blaming Germany's loss in World War One on a general. Hitler, of course, was lying himself..

Trump critics have pointed out an alarming parallel with his stolen election claims. Dictators have often rewritten events in an attempt to impose their views on people. North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il depicted himself as a World War Two hero, despite being four years old when the war ended. Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev published fairy tales starring himself.

In a statement promoting Truth Social, Trump called himself "Your favourite American president". Brutal Soviet leader Joseph Stalin presented himself as a beloved father of the nation.

Yet despite the authoritarian trappings of Trump's behaviour, some would argue that we are a long way from Orwell's 1984. Trump is, after all, no longer president. His new service is essentially a money-making venture. Eleven of the hedge funds supporting it are led by donors to the Democratic party - supposedly Trump's sworn enemies.

And there is no guarantee it will be a success. It targets those who are already his supporters, and even those people need to decide to sign up. Truth Social is not being forced upon anyone, except perhaps the journalists asked to review it.

It certainly looks like it, say some. In 1984, the torturer O'Brien boasted that the state controls reality by controlling minds. Trump may be out of political office, but Truth Social gives him a powerful platform to influence the minds of his supporters. If he wins another election, the US might be next.

Calm down, say others. Orwell's terrifying vision presented a world where the Thought Police captured those who even thought about opposing the state. Even as president, Trump was subject to constant critique and mockery. Besides, he may never come close to high office again.