PoliticoDonald Trump’s blog failed, bigly. His next online venture won’t be easier
- Donald Trump’s blog, once hailed by fans as his triumphant return to the internet, taken down
- Former president struggled to reach supporters after Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms banned him
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Meredith McGraw and Tina Nguyen on politico.com on June 2, 2021.
It was just less than three Scaramuccis old. Noah’s Ark had a longer run.
Publicly, Trump’s team described the decision to remove the “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” site as part of the process towards building a larger online footprint. But privately, aides conceded that the site was proving to be more of a nuisance than a bullhorn.
“It was more of a hassle than anything else and it wasn’t getting as many views as the team would have liked,” conceded a person familiar with the decision to take down the blog. “It was drawing more negative press than positive press.”
The person went on to note that the blog was the rough equivalent of a website page where a candidate for office posts statements. And since reporters were taking Trump’s statements from their email in boxes and sharing them on social media platforms anyway, having a specific website for that purpose became moot.