Trump Bashes AT&T For Network Failure, But Retail Traders Surprised At Stock’s Resilience

AT&T, Inc. (T) stock held its ground on Monday, despite drawing the ire of President Donald Trump, who criticized the company for not being able to handle a conference call he hosted.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “I’m doing a major Conference Call with Faith Leaders from all over the Country, and AT&T is totally unable to make their equipment work properly.”

He clarified that it was the second time AT&T’s network failed. “This is the second time it’s happened. If the Boss of AT&T, whoever that may be, could get involved — It would be good,” he said, adding that “There are tens of thousands of people on the line!”

In a follow-up post, Trump asked that the word about the network failure be passed on to the people waiting for the call. He also said the call may need to be rescheduled, adding that he would use another provider the next time.

Trump went on to add that “AT&T obviously doesn’t know what they’re doing!” 

AT&T stock has had a strong run so far this year, advancing over 30% and outperforming the S&P 500’s 5.5% gain, as it has benefited from its defensive appeal. 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the AT&T stock improved to ‘bullish’ (70/100) by early Tuesday from ‘neutral’ a day ago. The message volume rose to ‘high’ levels.

The tirade against AT&T came a little over two weeks after the Trump Organization announced Trump Mobile. The new wireless service would offer 5G service through all three major cellular carriers, with the highlight of the offering being the 47 Plan, which is available for only $47.45 per month.

After White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reposted the snapshot of Trump’s Truth Social post on X, AT&T was quick to respond.

“We've reached out to the White House and are working to quickly understand and assess the situation,” the company said on its X handle.

Commenting on the developments, a Stocktwits user said, “$T Did the right thing, fixed the issue and kissed the ring...unlike $TSLA who said bad very bad things about Trump again.”

They awaited a “dividend” pop for the stock.

Another user said they were surprised that the Trump trashing didn’t affect the stock, which ended up 3.06% on Monday.

In Tuesday’s early premarket session, AT&T stock was down 0.22% at $28.84, aligning with the downturn in stock futures.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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