Trump wanted blog shut down over people mocking its low traffic: report

Former President Trump ordered his blog to be taken down after it was mocked for its low online traffic, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

The Post reports that Trump ordered his team on Tuesday to permanently shut down the 29-day-old blog “From the Desk of Donald Trump,” citing its low readership and the possibility it could get in the way of a social media platform he still plans to launch later this year.

On the last day it was live online, Trump’s blog was shared 1,500 times on Twitter and Facebook, according to the Post. Trump’s tweets would often garner millions of retweets, comments and shares before and during his presidency.

Trump launched the blog site on his post-presidency website last month. It came after Twitter and Facebook opted to suspend his accounts from their platforms following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol in part for inciting violence.

A Trump adviser told the Post that the former president still wants to launch a social media platform in the near future. 

Trump’s senior aide Jason Miller told The Hill that the blog “was just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on.”