Trump’s blog sees decline in online interactions: report

Interactions with posts on former President Trump’s new blog have dropped significantly since it was launched earlier this month amid an effort by the former commander in chief to maintain an online presence. 

The former president was banned from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other platforms following his unsupported claims of election fraud and what platforms deemed inflammatory remarks leading up to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 

However, Trump established a blog dubbed “From the Desk of Donald Trump,” which was officially launched May 4, as an alternative online presence. 

On the blog’s first day, The Washington Post reported 159,000 total social media interactions. The following day, interactions dropped to 30,000 and have since not surpassed 15,000 per day, according to a Post review of data from online analytics firms. 

Trump’s blog received about 4 million visits the week ending May 18 from desktop and mobile devices. 

During the same period, the blog has been shared on Facebook an average of less than 2,000 times per day, a change from the tens of millions of comments, shares and reactions his Facebook page received each week last year, according to social media data firm BuzzSumo and Facebook-tracking tool CrowdTangle. 

The Post reported that despite high interactions with Trump’s blog content at the beginning of its launch, his posts have been shared less and less by users on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. 

But despite the decline in online interactions, Trump still maintains a grip on the Republican Party. Earlier this month, members of the House GOP voted to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) from her position as House Republican Conference chairwoman. 

Trump has issued statements in support of his allies and has used his voice to criticize Cheney.

Cheney repeatedly criticized Trump over his claims of election fraud, saying publicly that she would not support Trump if he ran again in 2024. 

Following her removal, the Wyoming congresswoman said that she would do everything in her power to ensure that Trump did not win the White House again. 

In addition to the Cheney controversy, Republican lawmakers have continued to vie for endorsements from the former president, and Trump remains popular with the GOP base. 

The Post reported that Trump advisers have attributed the blog’s performance to delays and glitches that occurred because of Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale’s company, Campaign Nucleus, which built the platform. The digital consultant pushed back on these assertions. 

“These comments came from the same people who have never done anything for Trump but talk,” Parscale told the Post. “My company spent the last six years building products that helped the president spread his message around the world. And we happily continue to do so.” 

“The website is built exactly as we pitched it,” he added. 

Trump is expected to resume his signature rallies this summer, which will push him back into the public eye.