Donald Trump’s new blog is already a thing of the past, with the former president permanently shutting down his “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” website on Wednesday.
The site — where Trump looked to reach his fans following his exile from major social platforms like Twitter and Facebook — had just launched in early May. But Trump senior aide Jason Miller told CNBC on Wednesday the site “will not be returning,” adding it was “just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on.”
The site was billed as a “new beacon of freedom” when it launched last month, offering the ex-commander-in-chief a “place to speak freely and safely,” according to a 30-second video that greeted fans. But the site has failed to gain much traction in the weeks following its debut, despite some Twitter-esque comments from Trump, like calling Mitt Romney a “stone cold loser.” CNBC on Wednesday reported Trump’s blog “struggled to amass even a fraction” of the engagement he previously received on Facebook and Twitter, where he had more than 130 million followers across both platforms.
Trump had been absent from social media since early January, when he was kicked off Twitter, Facebook and Instagram over his role in spurring the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Twitter said Trump was permanently banned from its platform, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” Facebook indefinitely banned Trump from its platforms at the same time; Facebook’s “Oversight Board” ruled last month the company was allowed to kick Trump off its platform, but that it needed to either boot him permanently or give him a date to return; Facebook now has about five months left before it needs to make a final call on whether he can return.
