MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

'From the Desk of Donald J Trump': Where to find and how to interact on Trump's new blog as he tries to skirt social media ban

In a bid to become relevent on social media again, the former president has launched a new platform, allowing fans to share his tweet-like statements on the Internet

Donald Trump is back on social media, sort of. The former president has unveiled a new platform on May 4, that helps him get back on his beloved networks, but indirectly. 'From the Desk of Donald J. Trump' is a new platform that Trump has launched, allowing anyone to view and share his tweet-like statements on Twitter and Facebook. 

The glorified blog is home to Trump's media statements, earlier sent to press outlets who published it on social media. The former president was reliant on journalists to get his word out after he released multiple statements since his social media ban. While not as frequent as his tweets, Trump has issued several statements over the last few months slamming everyone from President Joe Biden to Liz Cheney and Twitter to CNN. He has also used the statements to endorse several loyalists for elections, such as Marco Rubio, Susan Wright, Stephen Miller and David Shafer. 

RELATED ARTICLES

Rudy Giuliani's allies want Trump to settle legal fees from $250M war chest: 'Trump doesn't pay his own bills'

Trump accuses CNN of ‘campaign violation’ after Project Veritas' expose, Internet says ‘go eat your McDonald's’

Now, Trump's fans have direct access to the former president and can view all his statements without having to wait for the media to report on them. Here's everything you need to know about Trump's new blog.

What and where is it?

The blog is hosted on Trump's website, donaldjtrump.com. There's a new 'Desk' section that hosts the blog. The website and the associated Facebook page are part of Trump's political ambitions. It allows him to connect with voters and fans and allows them to purchase Trump-related memorabilia. Interestingly, the website also has a 'News' section that also houses some of Trump's statements.

On scanning both sections, we found that the 'News' is what journalists often receive, Trump's tweet-like statements meant for the media. The 'Desk' section houses slightly longer posts and is designed to look like a Twitter feed. Each 'statement' has a date stamp, and the scrolling layout very much resembles Facebook of the early 2010s. There's also a short video right at the top, calling the site 'a beacon of freedom'. 

How can you interact with Trump?

If you were hoping to comment or opine on Trump's statements, you are hard out of luck. The blog is pretty much a one-way street. You can see all of Trump's statements, and share them on Facebook or Twitter using the provided social buttons on the side, but you can't comment on the posts. There's also a like button, but it doesn't seem to be working just yet.

The Facebook and Twitter buttons are working perfectly though and allow you to share the statements with the link directly on the platforms. It works just like you'd expect. If you want to talk to Trump, you'll have to send him a message on Facebook or use the 'Contact' option on the website. Unlike social media, the website isn't designed to be a place for interaction, but one-way communication. Clearly, it was designed to keep out trolls. 

Anything else I should know?

Not really, the blog is a very rudimentary form of social media. It has one purpose, to put Trump back on Twitter and Facebook through his followers so that he isn't liable. From our testing, it clearly achieves that goal. Sharing these 'statements' on social media will be similar to a Trump tweet, albeit in a more indirect manner. It is as close to getting back on Twitter as Trump can get. As activist Jack Posobiec tweeted, "Trump is back - in blog form!"

What is social media saying?

Trump's blog has been widely panned on social media. NPR Domenico Montanaro tweeted, "Um, this "new platform" is just a blog on a personal web site that doesn't even have a comments section. It has changed the game back to before 2008." Commentator Brian Tyler Cohen said, "Big congrats to Donald Trump on creating [squints] a blog."

"So let me see if I got this right. trumps new social media platform that took months to create. Months of grifting $ from his pathetic sucker base. Turns out to be nothing more than a blog? A blog that no one can respond to? An 8yr old can create a blog in less than 10min" joked one user. Another said, "Trump getting fired and then starting a blog is the only thing he’s ever done that millennials can relate to."

One user joked, "Trump trying to pass off a Wordpress blog as a new social media network reminds me of that time in my childhood when I took a massive cordless phone into the car to pretend I had a car phone." Another user tweeted, "Donald Trump had a chance to light the discourse on fire by starting a Substack. It’s a real beta move to start a blog instead."

While most people will no doubt mock Trump's new attempt at getting back into 'social media', his fans are clearly pleased to see the former president back in some capacity.