---

← Back to all posts

Red Feed, Blue Feed: Comparing Reactions to Trump’s Tariffs on Truth Social and Bluesky

Blog • June 13, 2025

By Lukas Lehmann, Senior Strategist, Social Listening

Truth Social and Bluesky are carving out distinct spaces on opposite ends of the political spectrum and gaining influence, even as X and Facebook remain dominant.

To understand how these platforms are increasingly shaping the online discourse, the Rational 360 social listening team analyzed reactions to the same event: President Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement.

What Our Analysis Found

Our analysis of nearly 10,000 posts from these two platforms revealed parallel, yet wholly different, conversations about the same news event.

• Truth Social saw an immediate but short-lived burst of affirmational posts, with users rallying around Trump’s announcement in America-first, ideological terms.

• Bluesky hosted a delayed but more sustained conversation, dominated by criticism, irony, and debate, particularly after a 90-day pause announcement on April 9.

• Topical Analyses showed that while Truth Social posts emphasized support for President Trump, Bluesky’s discussion was highly critical of the tariff announcement.

• Influencer networks differed significantly. Truth Social centered around a few highly-engaged voices (notably Trump), while Bluesky featured a broader array of journalists and independent commentators.

These findings illustrate just how differently the same story can unfold depending on where and by whom it is being told.

Why This Matters

• Understanding how policy conversations evolve in different online communities helps brands and organizations anticipate risks and tailor messaging.

• As newer platforms like Truth Social and Bluesky grow in influence, monitoring them is no longer optional — it’s a strategic necessity. Industry-leading tools have not yet incorporated this capability into their products, but Rational 360 has developed a methodology that makes it possible.
• In a crisis, different influential communities will shape their online conversations in distinct ways. Are you present on the platforms relevant to them? How do you tailor messaging to those discrete audiences?

What We Did

We built custom tools to track how users on both platforms discussed tariffs from March 26 to April 15, when the discussion was at its peak. Using open-source libraries, we pulled posts, ran topical analyses in R, and mapped engagement patterns to uncover trends.

Go Deeper: Differing Evolution of Conversations

Bluesky and Truth Social users responded to the tariff news at different times and in noticeably different ways:

• Truth Social users reacted quickly, with a surge of pro-Trump, celebratory posts right after the April 2 announcement. But the buzz faded quickly after April 3, a short-lived response closely tied to the initial news.

• On Bluesky, the reaction came later but hit harder. Activity surged on April 3, driven by sharp criticism, jokes, and skepticism about the policy. But the most dramatic spike came on April 9, when many users reacted to an announcement of a 90-day pause —setting off a flood of sarcasm.

Together, these trends show how the same policy moment produced two very different lifespans of conversation: brief affirmation on Truth Social vs. extended interrogation on Bluesky.

Go Deeper: Dissecting Major Themes

• Truth Social centered around ideological support and party loyalty; more than a third of posts reinforced political alignment with Trump or framed tariff policy as a patriotic act.
• Bluesky emphasized critique, mocking the policy rollout, questioning the economics, and dissecting the narrative. Humor and skepticism played a prominent role.

The result is a split narrative – with one rooted in reinforcement and rallying cries and the other in irony and critique.

Go Deeper: A Tale of Two Media Ecosystems

• Bluesky users linked to outlets like Financial Times and Wired, suggesting interest in analytical or industry-specific coverage. Raw Story, a left-leaning news outlet, made the list of top sources shared.
• Truth Social amplified stories from Just the News and Gateway Pundit, reinforcing a tightly aligned pro-Trump media environment.

Go Deeper: Finding Influencers

Mapping influencers reveals radically different ecosystems of authority across the two platforms.

• Truth Social users discussing tariffs consistently receive more engagement than their counterparts on Bluesky.
  • It’s important to note that overall engagement levels are significantly higher on Truth Social than on Bluesky.
• On Bluesky, the most active and engaging voices skew heavily toward left-of-center commentators and journalists, figures like Brian Tyler Cohen, Chris Hayes, and Mark Cuban.
  • Engagement is distributed across a wide variety of users, many unaffiliated with traditional institutions, reflecting Bluesky’s decentralized ethos.
• Truth Social is dominated by high-visibility conservative influencers and pro-Trump figures, including President Donald Trump himself, who occupies the top-right quadrant with both high volume and engagement. Surrounding him are a dense cluster of conservative media outlets (e.g., RSBN, Gateway Pundit), meme/satire accounts, and political activists.
  • This suggests a more centralized and loyal ecosystem in which a few high-profile voices drive much of the narrative and engagement.

Next Steps: How to Adapt to the Fragmentation of Online Conversation

The tariff moment clearly illustrates how fragmented our digital public sphere has become. The same announcement generated radically different storylines, shaped not just by content but also by the distinct cultures and incentives of each platform.

As newer platforms gain traction, tracking these narrative shifts isn’t optional – it’s essential. Understanding how different digital communities engage with policy moments helps organizations anticipate risks, spot emerging narratives, and stay ahead of public sentiment.

Curious how users on Truth and Bluesky are talking about your brand or issue? Complete the form below to learn more about Rational 360’s digital intelligence offerings.