When Donald J. Trump held his post-conviction news conference at Trump Tower after his hush-money trial in May, he did so in his signature red (tie), white (shirt) and blue (suit), standing before so many flags he looked like a head bobbing in an ocean of patriotic hues.

It was a bit of star-spangled scenography for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who, more than any of his predecessors, has embraced the flag as his official fashion inspiration, using imagery to make it a synonym for himself. (One of his favorite personal factoids is that today, June 14, happens to be both his birthday and Flag Day, the date designated by Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to commemorate the official adoption of the American flag.)

In almost every major appearance, Mr. Trump stands planted in a forest of flags — 54 of them on the last night of the 2020 Republican convention alone. Descending from Trump Air, he passes beneath an imposing flag waving proudly on the tail, the colors echoed in his clothing as if he alighted from a flying flag himself.

“Most presidents have one flag behind them when they speak, maybe two,” said Lindsay M. Chervinsky, a senior fellow at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University and the author of the coming book “Making the Presidency.”

But by loading up on the flags, by hugging and kissing the flag, as Mr. Trump did in 2018 after a speech to the National Federation of Independent Business and again at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019 and 2020, Ms. Chervinsky continued, Mr. Trump is taking the tradition a step further. “He’s trying to equate himself with patriotism and nationalism,” she said. And his dressing to match is, she said, “the most visual representation of that.”

As Henry Ward Beecher, the 19th-century clergyman said in 1861, “A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation’s flag, sees not the flag, but the nation itself.”

In Mr. Trump’s case, the equation is simple: See him, see the flag, see the nation, get the message. In a visual age, that’s a powerful form of Pavlovian conditioning.

Wearing the Flag

Mr. Trump wore navy suits, red ties and white shirts before entering politics, but his use of the uniform has evolved. The blue of his suits has become brighter in recent months — less navy or midnight blue, and closer to what Peter Roberti, the president of the Custom Tailors & Designers Association, called a “Neapolitan blue.” Alan Flusser, a tailor to the tycoon set and the author of “Dressing the Man,” called it “cobalt.” It was a relatively uncommon choice among his clients, he said.

“Trump’s type of blue is something you will now see more prevalently on TV, worn by sports journalists or those who want to stand apart,” Mr. Flusser said. Before Covid, he said, when suits were more common in the workplace, “I would estimate that out of 50 navy suit sales, maybe three were of a cobalt nature.” This is still true among politicians, who tend to favor navy or gray suits.

And though Mr. Trump has, and does, wear ties other than red — during his New York hush-money trial, which turned in part on decisions he made as a businessman, blue and gold ties were on display — he almost always reverts to his uniform at his most high-stakes political moments.

He wore his red, white and blue combo when he won the presidency in 2016 and for his first official news conference as president-elect. He wore it during his State of the Union addresses in 2019 and 2020; for his speech at the rally on Jan. 6, 2021; and when he left the White House in 2021. He wore it for his mug shot — the history-making photo that has become a key part of his campaign merch. He even wore it for his first official TikTok post.

Maybe it’s happenstance. Steven Cheung, the communications director of the Trump campaign, did not respond to questions about Mr. Trump’s choice of dress other than to say, “There has been no president more pro-America than President Trump.”

But there is no question that Mr. Trump is an avowed student of what people wear to do their jobs, both the people who have worked for him (his generals, the White House spokesman) and his opponents (Nikki Haley). He also understands the semiology of ties. Just last week, at a rally in Arizona, he announced that he had worn a gold tie on purpose, because “it represents the sun.” And flags of all kinds play a large role in his MAGA rallies, not just onstage, but as props and statements of solidarity among attendees.

Add all that together, and it reflects the changing cryptography of the American flag, which began as a symbol of nationhood available to all, no matter their political denomination, turning more fraught both during the Civil War and in the 1960s with the Vietnam War, said Sean Wilentz, a professor of American history at Princeton University.

“It goes from being a source of unity to a source of division,” Mr. Wilentz said. “All of a sudden the left and the Democrats basically cede the flag to the right, and the right picks that up and runs with it.” President Ronald Reagan, who was also known for his red ties (though they were generally seen as representing the Republican Party) being a case in point. Still, no one has run further with it than Mr. Trump.

“The flag embodies everything he wants to get across,” Mr. Wilentz said. “He is the flag, and everyone else is not. We are America, and everyone else is not.”

It is, Ms. Chervinsky said, an approach that “is directly out of the authoritarian handbook.” Almost cartoonishly so.

Flags, for Mr. Trump, serve as scenography, costume and a sign of allegiance — to him. The theatrics may be most visible during rallies, when everyone gets to participate in the pageantry through dress, but the advantage of embedding them in clothing is that they are also replicable. It is no accident that Mr. Trump’s supporters, like Doug Burgum, J.D. Vance and Vivek Ramaswamy, arrived at his New York trial in matching red, white and blue looks.

As it happens, Mr. Trump is celebrating his birthday Friday evening with a fund-raiser hosted by Club 47 USA, formed to support his re-election, at the Palm Beach Convention Center. The invitation features a photo of Mr. Trump hugging the flag and specifies a dress code for attendees. Ticket holders are advised, the invite reads, to wear red, white and blue.

Several major networks cut away from former President Donald J. Trump on Friday during an appearance that had been promoted as a news conference at Trump Tower devolved into a rambling and misleading speech.

It was the latest example of television journalists having to weigh the news value of a major political moment — in this case, the criminal conviction of a former president — against the challenges of reporting on a candidate who regularly speaks in falsehoods.

Mr. Trump’s unfiltered remarks were carried live by cable news channels and NBC, which broke into its usual daytime programming to cover his appearance. In the minutes before he began speaking, MSNBC, CNN and Fox News all aired anticipatory camera shots of an empty lectern.

Mr. Trump began by speaking in his usual discursive, dissembling manner. He unleashed a litany of false statements about his Manhattan trial, attacking witnesses, calling the judge the “devil” and falsely accusing President Biden of being involved in the prosecution.

NBC aired Mr. Trump for 20 minutes before the anchor Lester Holt cut in. “We were told this was going to be a news conference,” he told viewers, before bringing on two legal analysts to dissect and fact-check the remarks. “There is no evidence that Biden was behind any of this,” Mr. Holt said.

ABC and CBS did not interrupt their regular shows.

On MSNBC, where anchors have sometimes refused to air Mr. Trump live, the former president’s appearance aired for about 20 minutes before the network broke away. Later, an on-screen graphic read: “Trump Post-Verdict Remarks Riddled With Lies and Attacks.”

CNN broadcast Mr. Trump for 18 minutes before cutting to a fact-checking segment. Several networks told viewers they would return to Mr. Trump’s appearance once he began speaking with reporters, but the former president did not take press questions. The New York Times, on its website, had a livestream of Mr. Trump’s appearance for about six minutes before cutting the feed and continuing to publish written updates on its blog.

Fox News aired Mr. Trump’s appearance in its entirety.

During the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump infuriated television journalists when he teased a “major announcement” related to his past lies about Barack Obama’s place of birth. Networks took his remarks live, but the appearance quickly turned into a campaign rally.

“We got played, again, by the Trump campaign,” John King of CNN said at the time.

X, the social media service owned by Elon Musk, will host live video town halls with former President Donald J. Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, a major push into politics, according to a person familiar with the plans.

The town halls, which will be produced in a partnership with the cable channel NewsNation, have yet to be scheduled and moderators have not been selected, said the person, who declined to be named because the plans were not yet public. X users will be able to ask questions of the presidential candidates during the events.

In an appearance on NewsNation on Wednesday night, Mr. Kennedy confirmed his plans to participate in a town hall, adding that Mr. Musk offered the use of the platform.

X has undergone a transformation under Mr. Musk’s ownership, as the billionaire has drastically reduced its work force, overhauled its technology and used the platform to advance his personal agendas.

The town halls follow a March meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk. The X owner has posted about President Biden more frequently in recent months, criticizing him on a range of fronts, including his age and his policies on immigration. X invited Mr. Biden to hold a town hall on the platform, but his campaign has not responded, the person familiar with the arrangement said.

Mr. Musk has stopped short of endorsing Mr. Trump, who was barred from Twitter after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Mr. Musk quickly reinstated the former president after buying the platform in 2022, which he renamed X. Mr. Musk has courted Mr. Trump, asking him to return to using X.

Mr. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Trump’s presence on X — if only for the town hall — could bring fresh viewership to the platform, which has struggled under Mr. Musk’s ownership. Advertisers have retreated, concerned about reports of hate speech and misinformation on the platform.

The platform has long been known as a text-first social media service. But under its chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, a former NBC Universal advertising leader, the company has increasingly incorporated video features.

She has made several deals to produce video content with TV personalities including Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host; Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic presidential candidate; and Paris Hilton, the reality star and D.J.

Ms. Yaccarino approached Nexstar, the parent company of NewsNation, about the town hall concept, the person familiar with the arrangement said, and has been ironing out the details as part of her push to make X a video platform. Axios previously reported the town hall.

At Mar-a-Lago on a Wednesday evening last month, Donald J. Trump mingled with partygoers, greeting his supporters and making small talk. The country star Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the U.S.A.,” and the former president’s oldest son, Donald Jr., gave a speech.

The elder Mr. Trump was presiding over a cocktail reception for about 150 guests to celebrate the public debut of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of his social media app, Truth Social. Trump Media’s share price had soared in its first day of trading, adding billions of dollars to Mr. Trump’s wealth.

But the party was far from lavish. Guests munched on cookies emblazoned with the letters DJT, the company’s stock symbol. They were invited via the free Paperless Post app and told they couldn’t bring a plus one, according to a copy of the invitation.

Mr. Trump was not shy about the frugality. A benefit of Truth Social, he told guests, is that it is “not very expensive to run.”

From the moment Trump Media was founded in 2021, Mr. Trump has treated it as a low-cost, low-effort venture. While he once served as chief executive and owns nearly 65 percent of the company, he has been only marginally involved in its day-to-day operations, mostly posting on Truth Social and delegating the business to others. At times, he considered working on competing ventures, according to court filings, corporate records, and five former employees and others familiar with the company.

Mr. Trump now finds himself in a strange position, with his financial future hinging on an endeavor that he sometimes seemed indifferent toward. Trump Media’s Wall Street debut in March turned Mr. Trump’s stake into a more than $5 billion bonanza. It has tripled his net worth, providing a potential monetary lifeline as he runs for president and grapples with steep legal bills tied to the civil and criminal cases against him.

Yet his newfound fortune is precarious. For years, Trump Media, founded by two former contestants of “The Apprentice,” was entangled in a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry and an insider-trading investigation. It has no products beyond Truth Social, which has a small audience and generated $770,000 in revenue in the first three months of the year while losing $328 million. Still, it has a market valuation greater than $7 billion.

“It’s one of the most obvious worthless stocks I have ever seen,’’ said Alan Jagolinzer, an accounting professor at the University of Cambridge in England.

Mr. Trump’s prosperity is merely paper wealth. Trump Media’s share price is volatile, fueled by amateur traders who often ignore business fundamentals. And Mr. Trump cannot sell his shares until September, under a provision common in merger agreements and public offerings, which restricts him and other large investors from immediately cashing in on shares. If he sells the stock, smaller shareholders may take it as a signal to flee.

“The risk of the Trump Media fortune is very, very high,” said Mike Stegemoller, a finance professor at Baylor University. “You’re now dealing with a fortune that is somewhat disconnected from reality.”

Representatives for Mr. Trump didn’t respond to requests for comment. Shannon Devine, a Trump Media spokeswoman, said The New York Times’s reporting on the company was “filled with misleading insinuations and outright falsehoods, and supported by supposed experts who just happen to share the authors’ biases.”

Committed, or not?

Trump Media was not Mr. Trump’s idea.

After Mr. Trump left the White House in 2021, two contestants from the second season of his reality TV show “The Apprentice” — Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky — pitched him an idea for a social media platform built around his brand.

Mr. Trump had just been barred from Twitter after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky argued that if the former president built his own social media company, he wouldn’t be deplatformed again.

In February 2021, Mr. Trump signed a deal with the two men to start Trump Media. He received a 90 percent stake in the venture and the title of chief executive. All he had to do was give it his name.

Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky oversaw the hiring of engineers to build Truth Social, which would largely cater to conservatives, with the aim of releasing the app in about a year.

But before the app was even built, Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky wanted to take Trump Media public through a merger with a “special purpose acquisition company.” SPACs are shell corporations that raise funds by offering shares on Wall Street, then look for private companies to combine with, allowing those companies to bypass the scrutiny that typically comes with an initial public offering.

Mr. Trump left the details to the “Apprentice” pair. Mr. Litinsky, a right-wing radio personality, cold-called hundreds of SPACs to strike a deal. It was “almost no different than picking up the phone to sell insurance,” he testified in federal court last month, in a legal case tied to the merger process.

He eventually found Patrick Orlando, an ex-Deutsche Bank trader who was working on setting up a SPAC called Digital World Acquisition Corporation.

Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky brought Mr. Trump in for meetings to sign off on a merger. In February 2021, Mr. Orlando arrived at Mar-a-Lago to speak with the former president. Mr. Trump had been playing golf with Jack Nicklaus, the golfing champion, company records show.

At another meeting, Mr. Trump led a group on a brief tour at Mar-a-Lago, recounting a zoning fight he had with local officials in Florida, according to a video reviewed by The Times.

Mr. Trump, who occasionally met Trump Media’s investors, leaned heavily on Donald Jr. to represent his interests, according to company records and two people familiar with the talks.

But in the end, the elder Mr. Trump was the “ultimate decision maker” on the SPAC deal, Mr. Litinsky testified.

Yet as negotiations unfolded, Mr. Trump considered abandoning Trump Media, according to a daily log of the company’s activities maintained by a former executive. He held talks with a rival start-up called Gettr, a conservative social media platform led by a former campaign adviser, Jason Miller.

In September 2021, Mr. Litinsky and Mr. Moss persuaded Mr. Trump to sign a licensing deal committing him to Trump Media. Under the terms, Mr. Trump would have to post messages on Truth Social before publishing them on any other platform. Mr. Trump didn’t get additional money from the contract, but it included provisions allowing him to abandon his commitments if the merger took too long to close.

Some Digital World board members were uneasy about the merger with Trump Media. On a call in October 2021, a board member, Lee Jacobson, complained that Trump Media was taking a “cowboy approach,” with financial projections that did not add up, according to a recording filed in court.

Mr. Orlando quelled the dissent, insisting that the deal was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

A legal cloud

On the morning of Oct. 20, 2021, the merger paperwork between Trump Media and Digital World was ready for a signing ceremony at Mar-a-Lago. Then Mr. Trump got a call.

On the other end was Mr. Miller, who ran Gettr. Mr. Miller again wanted Mr. Trump to join his app, Mr. Litinsky testified in April. Mr. Trump seemed undecided about what to do and summoned Mr. Litinsky to his Mar-a-Lago office, asking him to pitch the rationale for the merger with Digital World. Mr. Litinsky said he was worried the former president would abandon the deal.

Mr. Trump ultimately did not join Gettr. Later that day, he and Mr. Orlando signed the merger agreement during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago..

Trump Media’s next step was to release Truth Social, which officially debuted on Feb. 21, 2022. “Because the president wanted a Ferrari, they built him a Ferrari,” Lori Heyer-Bednar, Trump Media’s chief legal officer, said at the time. But the site was initially plagued with glitches, prompting complaints.

Mr. Trump’s account quickly published its first post, vowing that he would be an active user. Mr. Trump did not write the message or post it; an executive at Trump Media did, according to a video reviewed by The Times.

Legal hurdles soon arose that delayed the regulatory approval for the merger. In late 2021, the S.E.C. opened an investigation into the merger, while prosecutors prepared separate insider-trading charges against a group of early Digital World investors. (No one from Trump Media was charged with wrongdoing.) Trump Media’s public debut couldn’t move forward until those legal issues were resolved.

With the deal hanging in the balance, Mr. Trump moved to strengthen his hold over Trump Media. In late 2021 and early 2022, he asked Mr. Litinsky to give company shares to his wife, Melania, according to court records and a person with knowledge of the matter.

Mr. Litinsky refused. In the spring of 2022, Mr. Trump had him ousted, according to a lawsuit that Mr. Litinsky and Mr. Moss later filed against Trump Media. Mr. Moss left a few months later. They were replaced by Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, who became Trump Media’s chief executive. Mr. Trump’s title changed to chairman, and his son Donald Jr. joined the board.

By then, Mr. Trump had become more active on Truth Social, where he now has seven million followers. He posted frequently about prosecutors and political opponents, insisting that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

But Trump Media was struggling to stay afloat. In regulatory filings, the company warned that it might go out of business if the merger wasn’t approved soon.

Last July, Digital World agreed to pay $18 million to the S.E.C. to settle charges that it had misled investors about the deal with Trump Media. The settlement lifted a legal cloud. Mr. Trump received a new class of shares that gave him majority voting power over the company, and Trump Media recommitted to the merger.

On Feb. 14, the S.E.C. approved the merger agreement. The company’s path to the stock market was back on.

‘People can’t stop us’

At the Mar-a-Lago cocktail party last month, Mr. Trump thanked some early Trump Media investors and exchanged pleasantries with the actor Jon Voight, a longtime supporter. Addressing the crowd, which included several conservative influencers, Mr. Trump declared that his app would be bigger than Twitter, now known as X.

“All I know is I get my voice out and people can’t stop us,” he said.

Whatever reservations Mr. Trump had about Trump Media appeared to have melted away. On March 23, a day after Digital World shareholders approved the merger, Mr. Trump posted a short message on his app: “I love Truth Social.”

When the company started trading publicly on March 26, it surged 32 percent over its first two days, closing at around $66.

After an infusion of new shares from the merger, Mr. Trump’s 90 percent stake in Trump Media dropped to around 65 percent. But he remains the single biggest shareholder with about 115 million shares — including 36 million that he received last month as a kind of bonus for the stock trading so well.

Mr. Trump also stepped back from being an officer or director of the company. He didn’t explain why, but Trump Media’s code of ethics says employees and directors engaging in “political activities are expected to do so as private citizens.”

The company’s future is not assured. While it has outperformed other right-wing apps, Truth Social had just one million unique visitors in April, a small fraction of X’s traffic, according to Similarweb, an internet tracker. Its revenue comes solely from ads, including ones for patriot-themed apparel and Trump paraphernalia. The company’s $328 million loss in the first quarter, which it reported on Monday, was affected by merger-related costs.

In September, Mr. Trump can start selling Trump Media’s shares or use them as collateral for loans. If he sells on the open market, investors could take it as a negative sign and dump their stock, hurting the share price. To avoid that, Mr. Trump could try to negotiate a private sale, cashing in on some of his shares without causing a market panic.

“There would have to be a big discount,” Mr. Jagolinzer, the accounting professor, said. “The red flags are just so glaring.”

Kitty Bennett contributed research.