Trump shuts down short-lived blog section of his website
Almost a month after it was first announced, former President Donald Trump has shuttered a section on his website that he used to post statements after being banned from major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, Trump senior aide Jason Miller confirmed to ABC News.
As of this week, the "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump" section of Trump's official website has been removed and "will not be returning," Miller first told CNBC.
The blog-like offering was launched in early May.
Miller downplayed the blog as "just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on," and has teased that a new platform from the former president may be on the way.
The blog was essentially a feed of Trump's statements, which he had also been emailing out. Its launch was mocked by some critics after the former president and his aides had been hyping the release of their own social media platform to combat "censorship."
Miller did not provide specific details regarding an upcoming social platform, saying that he hoped "to have more information on the broader efforts soon, but I do not have a precise awareness of timing."
The abrupt closing of the blog comes amid reports of dismal readership, including a report by The Washington Post that detailed the blog's poor digital impact compared to the reach Trump's tweets used to generate. During a recent week, web metrics indicated that the blog had "been shared to Facebook on average fewer than 2,000 times a day -- a staggering drop from [Trump's tweets] last year," the Post said.
Since being booted from Twitter and Facebook, the former president has continued to release a steady stream of statements commenting on news of the day and endorsing candidates -- but the impact of his posts has appeared to wane. Online discussion around the former president has plummeted to a five-year low, according to the Post, with Trump-based social engagement in January tanking 95 percent to its lowest level since 2016.
But the plunge has not been for lack of effort. On top of his stream of statements, the former president has also regularly appeared on pro-Trump media outlets like OANN and Newsmax, and on Fox News shows.
