Former President Donald J. Trump has removed himself entirely from the internet.
Still banned from Twitter and Facebook, and struggling to find a way to influence news coverage since leaving office, Mr. Trump decided on Wednesday to shutter his do-it-yourself alternative, a blog he had started just a month ago called “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.”
Mr. Trump had become frustrated after hearing from friends that the site was getting little traffic and making him look small and irrelevant, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
SMALL LIKE HIS HANDS. Apparently his supporters aren’t big readers, which, I am sure, comes as a major shock.
It’s not easy maintaining a near top 10,000 blog for almost two decades, but a month isn’t even trying. Speaking of top 10,000 blogs, a big shout out to LGM, which has been around for 17 years. Congrats, folks!
raven
Hahahaha!
tom
But I’ll bet Brad Parscale, who worked on TFG’s blog, made out like a bandit.
Black_onion
Self inflicted Cancel Culture strikes again.
namekarB
Some people say . . . He made a fistful of dollars by selling the domain name
eataTREE
Who do you suppose the “person familiar with his thinking” is?
Mike in NC
My favorite of the Orange Clown’s tweets was when he met Prince Charles: “I’m having lunch today with the Prince of Whales”
raven
@eataTREE: Carnack the magnificent.
HypersphericalCow
This is great proof of the network amplification effects that the big social networks have. Absent that, Trump is just another old man yelling at clouds.
schrodingers_cat
@HypersphericalCow: His mouthpiece MAGA Haberman was amplifying his message on Twitter yesterday. Apparently he is going to be reinstated in August
NYT is the Faux News for the tote bagger circuit. They peddle genteel white supremacy.
JaySinWA
He needs one of them newfangled video blogs to appeal to the less literate.
Steeplejack
Whew, I thought Cole was ranting about Balloon Juice for a minute there!
raven
This didn’t garner any interest earlier but the teenaged girl pushing bear off the wall to protect her dogs is great!
West of the Rockies
@eataTREE:
Dr. Hannibal Lecter?
Tony Jay
I’m just having a ball imagining the High Council of GQP Archons sitting silently around their meeting table, all of them baffled that This Fucking Guy owns their entire world, all of them too cowardly to be the one who calls in the hitman.
Bare is back without brother to guard it, melonfarmers.
JaySinWA
@raven: This blog has been there and done that earlier.
https://balloon-juice.com/2021/06/01/do-not-try-this-at-home-open-thread-she-shoved-a-bear/
raven
@JaySinWA: thx
Poe Larity
n00bs
Mike in NC
I think both Melania and Stormy Daniels would describe his private parts as “small and irrelevant”.
guachi
Probably had a deal on the webhosting where it was free for the first 30 days. So, of course, Trump canceled as soon as he’d have to pay real money.
Elizabelle
@raven: Amazing young woman.
Had not realized it was a mother bear with cubs on the wall. Glad all ended well for everyone (including the bear and cubs).
jl
Radio news blurb said Trump was angry that people were making fun of it too.
Sad day! Not the best, there were some problems. A mess.
Elizabelle
It is merciful that we are not subjected to all things
trump. Our lives are enriched and enlarged by his absence.Although, I look forward to Trump: The Federal Trial(s).
And may I add: foo on Maggie Haberman. Publicist from hell, masquerading as a journalist.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: It was front paged last night
ETA: I see JaySinWA got there first.
Mary G
@raven: That could’ve been a disaster. Fortunately, the minute the dogs went off, the cubs booked it away from the house, so Mama knew they were out of range. Second, Mama was swiping at the dogs, but not too much, as she was trying to turn around to follow the babies. So she was off balance and went off the edge when pushed, but you see her popping right back up as the kid runs with the doggo.
Dan B
@Elizabelle: May not have ended well for Mama bear. There was talk of euthanizing a bear that’s trouble.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
It always shocks me when I see that word in connection with that guy. It can’t mean the same thing as when normal functioning humans use it.
JMG
If I were say, Ron DeSantis, (sure glad I’m not), I’d be in discreet, deniable contact, with Don Jr., Jared and Ivanka about how to get the old man institutionalized before he spoils the grift for everyone.
Elizabelle
@Dan B: I hope they just relocate Mama and her cubs.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Dan B: Unless they’ve killed or seriously injured a human, they’re usually relocated deep in the forest.
HypersphericalCow
Network effects are real, and very important, and the desiccated remnants of TFG media team not understanding that, is very on brand.
Van Buren
@raven: I used it as a debate topic today in my fifth grade class. Slim majority felt it was wrong of her to risk her life for the dogs, which surprised me.
kindness
@tom: I’ll bet Brad bought himself a new Ferrari with the coin he made on the web site deal.
Baud
Who else read the title and thought John was talking shit about us again?
ETA: Steeplejack!
Calouste
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Friend is almost a synonym for sycophant.
Mary G
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You’re the plant whisperer. The house with the bear has one mature citrus tree and it looks like they may have a bunch more ready to plant. Bears like food. I wonder if it’s wise to add more to the menu
Whoops that was supposed to be addressed to Dan B., sorry.
patrick II
The media has not been constantly echoing whatever the bullshit of the day was either — which they could have and would have encouraged him. I never subscribed to his twitter, but had to read the stupid crap he wrote almost every day. His spiritual insurrectionist offspring are still out there bellowing, but the volume seems turned down. Except for Tucker Carlson. He seems to have found his true racist self and a cable network that will broadcast it.
debbie
Why isn’t he on Parler? ??♀️
zhena gogolia
Did anyone do the WaPo puzzle today? 8 down was “What the names of three contiguous US states begin with,” and the answer was “ani.” I have no idea what this means.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@zhena gogolia: So I’m guessing those are the three leading initials of the three states. Like Arizona, New Mexico and Iowa? Do those touch?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: It’s not all about him.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@zhena gogolia: Arkansas, Nebraska, Illinois.
ETA: Nope, way off.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
A month? Pitiful. I bet he’s taken shits that lasted longer than that.
Roger Moore
@eataTREE:
Probably John Barron.
Matt McIrvin
@zhena gogolia: Arizona, Nevada, Idaho. But that is a really poor clue.
craigie
@Mary G:
Why were we not told this in school?
swbarnes2
@zhena gogolia: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa all begin with ‘an I’?
Amir Khalid
@eataTREE:
Anyone familiar with Trump ‘s thinking knows there’s not a great deal of it.
If Trump had any clue about what his followers wanted beyond the chance to worship him, he never showed it. His blog reminded the world that all he really gives a damn about is himself and his grievances. Shutting it down may have actually mitigated the political damage he was doing to himself. Indeed, I think it’s a more likely scenario than his staff just forgetting to pay the hosting service.
zhena gogolia
@Matt McIrvin:
It is, isn’t it? Why not some other set of three contiguous states?
zhena gogolia
@swbarnes2: OH, THAT’S IT!!!
ETA: Still a terrible clue!
zhena gogolia
Thanks, everybody. That was driving me crazy.
If it were NYT, there’s Rex Parker’s blog, where he explains everything (or his commenters do). But WaPo hasn’t attracted that kind of analysis.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
It means “An I.”
Spanky
@zhena gogolia: Arizona – Nevada – Idaho
Sounds like a puzzle writer gave up.
bbleh
So apparently there IS an active Facebook site, https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/ (I clicked the link so you don’t have to), with latest posts dated Jan. 6, and allegedly accepting comments, but whether it’s actually being run by him or his people I have no idea.
Roger Moore
@HypersphericalCow:
It’s hard to tell if they don’t understand or don’t care. They care mostly about getting their next payday, and that means convincing TFG to fund another project. It may very well be good for them if their ideas fail; as long as it doesn’t get them fired, it gives them another bite at the apple.
bbleh
@SiubhanDuinne: THANK you for pointing this out. Otherwise there’s some horrifyingly large combinatorial number of possible answers.
debbie
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Idaho?
mrmoshpotato
Awww….the Kremlin’s orange shitpile couldn’t figure out blogging.
WEAK! SAD! TRAITOROUS ORANGE SOVIET SHITPILE!
StringOnAStick
Drove for 7 hours through rural Oregon yesterday, going to and from the ocean; saw only 4 tRump signs, all but one associated with pretty non-prosperous homes and the other was basically a junk store. The new thing is signs for vote fraud.info, with a frog is pot of water on a burner and always with a timberbeauty.org sign promising “good jobs for rural Oregon workers” that I suspect is a gateway site to get you to fall down the Greater Idaho or state of Jefferson wormhole. Saw 3 of those. I expected a lot more tRump and even the other signs were a bit pathetic in their numbers. Signs supporting TFG are definitely declining in number around here; significantly so. Maybe his supporters are starting to feel the loser-dom.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Going over to do it now. No more reading here until after, because spoilers!
Usually I wait and do the whole week’s WaPo puzzles on Sunday. I got spoiled all those months of plowing through the Times puzzle archives.
CaseyL
@zhena gogolia: Probably means “An I,” Indiana, Illinois, Iowa
ETA – I see Subaru Dianne got there first.
Mike in NC
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: David Pecker
Dan B
@Mary G: Bears like things like bird seed and bugs + small critters or medium critters. Citrus are likely to repel them. Apples and other fruits would be attractive but they could end up like birds that go after fruit that’s fallen to the ground and fermented. Wouldn’t need much to push an addled bear off a wall.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
Comments 46, 51, and 60 are correct. I hope it’s not too much of a spoiler — sorry! I just couldn’t stand it any more.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
I’m about to do the TV Guide puzzle, that’s how desperate I am. My nursing-home-grade monthly variety puzzle book hasn’t arrived yet.
Mary G
@zhena gogolia: OK, I tried to figure it out and had no luck. I tweeted at the writer Evan Birnholz asking for an explanation, because I need to know. It’s evidently been used by the NYT and LAT in the past.
JoyceH
Trump is a quitter, always has been. I was genuinely surprised that he made it to the end of his term – I expected him to quit in a huff long before that. I can only suppose someone explained presidential immunity to him and that’s what kept him hanging on, though he plainly hated it.
zhena gogolia
@Mary G:
See comments #46, 51, and 60 — they’re correct.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
“An I”: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa.
ETA: Piling on (gleefully).
Mary G
@Mary G: OK, now I feel dumb.
rikyrah
????
Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) tweeted at 4:21 PM on Wed, Jun 02, 2021:
“Kemter said he was emailed by an event organizer (whom he declined to name) asking him to remove a part of his speech dealing with Black Americans’ role in an early Memorial Day-type of ceremony.” https://t.co/XRy8BJSQZ3
(https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1400201034971193350?s=03)
RaflW
The only people who look more pathetic than TFG in the shuttering of that blog are men like Rubio, Cruz, Graham and Pompeo — and women like Ronna McRomney and Nikki Haley.
I cannot believe they’re afraid of him. But they are!
I’m guessing the “Frank” rally in WI with the CheapPillow guy is gonna be a stinker, too. TFG is an announced jumbotron guest. Hahahah.
dww44
@schrodingers_cat: Haberman was on CNN earlier and spewing her usually mealy mouthed non answers regarding tfg.
I say this, not disparagingly , but she did not look well. No makeup. Hair overlong and messy. She simply did not look well,
RaflW
@guachi: Probably “First 1,000 site visits are free!”
And it took a month.
debbie
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
But he’d be the most popular member.
schrodingers_cat
@dww44: Withdrawal symptoms?
Mary G
Oopsie:
Twitter has been enjoyable this afternoon with all the dragging of TFG’s blog fail, and watching everyone and their mother drag Stanford Law and the Federalist Society is the cherry on top.
This is the classic Streisand effect. The kid makes fun of them, they send an email to all their members to never hire this guy for anything again and have a chance of ruining his career without having their fingerprints on it. But making Stanford come down on him like a ton of bricks just shows their ass to a wide audience.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
That is a Sunday London Times kind of clue.
WaterGirl
@Mary G: So glad to see this! Stanford should be ashamed, as should everyone who ever went to school there.
It’s appalling to see how much money controls everything.
raven
@Mary G: Why in the fuck would he want to work for any of them?
raven
“In the wake of the news of the investigation, Stanford Law School students reportedly began circulating satirical flyers mocking both their university and the Federalist Society.”
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
“Still a terrible clue!”
C’mon, man! There’s scarecely a puzzle past Monday or maybe Tuesday that doesn’t include at least one misdirection.
Sour grapes. ?
dww44
@schrodingers_cat: yup!
smith
@debbie: I was thinking the same thing. It’s a cryptic clue, as commonly used in British crosswords, not a straightforward definition that you’re more likely to find in American crosswords.
Mustang Bobby
Bark Bark Woof Woof has been around 6,388 more days than TFG’s feeble attempt, and I do it all by myself. </shameless self promotion>
RaflW
@craigie: I thought it was just the pic-a-nic baskets.
Like, the basketry really drew them in.
Roger Moore
@Dan B:
Black bears are excellent climbers, so they have no trouble going after fruit while it’s still on the tree. Southern California is a great place for that, since so many people have fruit trees in their yards. Of course the bears also won’t say no to some leftovers thrown out in the garbage.
Frankensteinbeck
@JoyceH:
He held on for the same reason he’s flailing for attention now. He’s a narcissist. Every existing job or title in the world is a step down in external ego validation from ‘President of the United States.’ As miserable as he was, millions of people listened to every mindless face flatulence he released. People came begging to him for his approval on issues large and small. Now nobody gives a shit what he thinks, even the people loudly screaming the election was stolen.
zhena gogolia
@smith:
I do the New Yorker cryptic every week, so I’m used to cryptic clues. But this was just dropped into an otherwise very easy puzzle. I was mystified by it.
But I had faith in the jackals to explain it to me!
zhena gogolia
@Frankensteinbeck:
You always hit the nail on the head!
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
I have been on a starvation diet since finishing the Times archives right around the end of the former guy’s regime. On bad days I was doing 20-plus puzzles a day. Now I do just the one Times puzzle every day, mostly because you have to do it daily to keep your solving “streak” alive. Thought I didn’t care about that, but apparently my OCD side does. I wait and do the week’s Post puzzles on Sunday.
Ken
Wonderful how technology is advancing. The tiny violins are a tenth the size of the ones available just three months ago.
CaseyL
My Sunday paper has both its own big crossword and the NYT Sunday crossword. Sometimes I do them both right away; sometimes I wait until later in the week. They can be difficult – until you figure out the theme. That makes things a lot easier,
I actually find the NYT Saturday puzzle to be harder to do, because there is no theme, just a bunch of difficult clues!
Steve in the ATL
@zhena gogolia: dude, M-W-F are The New Yorker crossword puzzle days. We here at B-J don’t do prole puzzles.
dmsilev
@CaseyL: Sunday puzzles are big, but difficulty-wise I find they run somewhere in the Wed-Thurs range, mostly depending on how much trickery is involved in the theme.
Eunicecycle
@rikyrah: I just saw that story in our local paper. It’s infuriating! I can’t believe the Lt. Col. was asked to take the part that was silenced out of his speech. I know the sound guy, AJ Stokes. He did the sound for some events I was in charge of. He was always very laid back no matter how crazy I would get. A good guy.
debbie
@smith:
I used to solve those years ago. Now I couldn’t even remember what they’re called. ?
debbie
@Frankensteinbeck:
The perks were pretty good too. Free golf, etc.
Ken
@debbie: @smith: “Singular pronoun found in a mess”
Honus
@rikyrah: I was going to say that was despicable but despicable is not a strong enough word. What the hell is the matter with those people that they would even ask him to take that part of speech out, and then turn off his microphone? Support the troops indeed.
Shana
@zhena gogolia: The states’ names all begin with the letter I.
NickM
@StringOnAStick: I drove through about 300 miles of coastal/rural NC in April and saw maybe 5 Trump signs and no multiples on one lawn. I was very surprised and it made me feel hopeful.
James E Powell
@eataTREE:
Maggie Haberman
Honus
@Mary G: I made fun of the Federalist Society pretty much every day when I was in law school at W&L. But that was 28 years ago and I was 15 years older than most of them
NotMax
@Steeplejack
“Favorite pronoun of the 45th president”
//
zhena gogolia
@Steve in the ATL:
I did that one. But none of its clues were incomprehensible.
Shana
@zhena gogolia: My husband likes the Globe and Mail cryptics.
Patricia Kayden
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
and now Trump Blog
zhena gogolia
@Shana:
They’re probably too hard for me. I can’t do the Times one. The New Yorker cryptic is about my speed.
Kay
He’s wearing his Amazon uniform.
zhena gogolia
zhena gogolia
Asha Rangappa makes a really good point here.
Kent
There are Federalist society creeps buried in law firms all across the country. Hard to find work anywhere without running into one of them. It was about torpedoing his future employment prospects in the private sector.
Mai Naem mobile
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: you forgot Trumpovotus Inc. also a business.
Jeffro
“If he’s not mainlining 140 characters (or less) of stupid shit directly into my social media brain 24/7 then there’s just no point in living!!!”
-my fervent wish for all remaining trumpov supporters
Patricia Kayden
Jeffro
@guachi: I do love the idea that he set up his oh-so-presidential “thoughts” blog on a free trial site and then punted at the 29 day mark.
Might have to spread that not-disproven rumor around a bit tomorrow… ;)
JoyceH
I used to get the books of the Times cryptics but I could never get all the clues because so many of them were UK specific. But I’ve found other cryptic series, Can-Am cryptics and cryptics ‘for the rest of us’. One series promises “NO cricket clues!”
Jeffro
Well…he did slink out of town, embarrassed to show his face at President Biden’s inauguration. First time in over 100 years that happened, I think it was? We should make more hay of that.
Only a guy who botched a fucking pandemic, racked up 10k+ lies and $100m in golf bills would do that…
Jeffro
We really should spend more time (here and on social media and emails and perhaps even skywriting) mocking the living shit out of these people. “You’re AFRAID! Of HIM! lolololol”
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
That will infuriate Israeli settlers.
VeniceRiley
@schrodingers_cat: Yeah I saw that and sniggered “Maggie got no access in the Biden White house. So we get this bit.”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@rikyrah: There is a good footnote
So as usual the racists fucks shoot themselves in the foot.
If people wonder why those of us are into history feel the need to petulantly speak up on it it. This why, a lot of popular history is a lie perpetuated by racists.
Dan B
@rikyrah: This story is from where I was born and raised. The Akron area was not as awful as the deep south, where I also lived for little over a year, but there were plenty of horrible bigots and still seem to be. I hope the two assholes whose hatred of hearing about the contributions of all Americans, in this case black Americans, is met by appropriate outrage and swft consequences.
smith
@JoyceH: The Guardian has its puzzle archive online going back to the time of Noah’s Ark — there are thousands of them. I print them off 40 at a time and do one every evening. The UK specific words are a challenge, but I’ve learned a lot (not so much about cricket, though).
VeniceRiley
Call me crazy, but I think the cult has moved beyond TFG except for performative purposes. It’s all about the RWNJ billionaires propaganda and officeholders’ allegiance to the paranoid Q cult and the insane base. Propped by internet, Russia, Fox, Newsmax, OANN, rwnj radio, etc. All enabled by male white supremacy, as ever.
munira
@zhena gogolia: An I – Indiana, Illinois and Iowa
Steve in the ATL
@zhena gogolia: 45 Down was easy, it offensive as she is a trump lover
Mary G
“Conservatives” are complaining they’re being canceled because no one wants to buy a hit book against Joe Biden (Atlantic):
Fauci is the new Obama. A bunch of his emails were published, and the gotchas are ridiculous.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G:
So Ben is admitting he’s a walking sack of shit in the weirdest way possible, I see.
TomatoQueen
Thank you for the warning about the Firefox update and the fixes and workarounds for appearances.
dmsilev
@Mary G:
Whereas stuffing Ben Shapiro into a barrel head-first and then nailing shut the lid would feel quite good.
Eric S.
@zhena gogolia: “An I”. Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana
MattF
@JoyceH: I’ve been doing variety cryptics for a looong time. There’s a Facebook group, The Puzzler, that collects (look under ‘Announcements’) and solves variety cryptics, particularly cryptic puzzles set by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, aka ‘Hex’. Hex puzzles are currently appearing online on the WSJ puzzle page.
LHRHSHTT
Introducing myself as a Left-handed, Redhead, Small Hands, TeeTotaler,
I might say more some other time, but seeing if I am welcome.
Ruckus
@dmsilev:
I’m thinking steel drum and welding it shut.
But that’s just me….
opiejeanne
@LHRHSHTT: Hi there. Nice to meet you.
TriassicSands
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
You left out the U.S.A. But since it will probably never recover, Trump and the GOP would call that a triump.
Tony Jay
@LHRHSHTT:
Did you bring any drugs? They said you’d be bringing drugs.
That’s what teetotal means, right?
yellowdog
@zhena gogolia: An I. Indiana, Iowa, Illinois.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Ruckus: Don’t forget to add the fire ants and the bullet ants before welding the steel drum shut.
ET
So sad and so unsurprising.
Barry
@JMG: ”
If I were say, Ron DeSantis, (sure glad I’m not), I’d be in discreet, deniable contact, with Don Jr., Jared and Ivanka about how to get the old man institutionalized before he spoils the grift for everyone.
”
I bet on him as TFG’s successor.
SFAW
@Mustang Bobby:
“Half the Life of a Fruit Fly,” excellent post title.
Now, if only TFG and his idolaters had half the (political) life of a mayfly.
And, yes, I did learn something, thanks!
[As a tangent: I recall some scientists studying a Drosophila mutation which had an extended life; they named it “INDY,” for “I’m Not Dead Yet,” which was of course a Monty Python ref.]
Kathleen
@dww44: One of the people I follow on Twitter said the same thing. Biting keyboard regarding additional commentary.
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: Perfect question.
Fester Addams
I suspect the money they gave Parscale to buy a bunch of fake readers ended up at the boat store or something.
cmorenc
@Matt McIrvin:
Indeed, because while Arizona & Nevada are contiguous, and Nevada and Idaho are contiguous, Arizona is most definitely not contiguous with Idaho.
SFAW
@cmorenc:
But if you squint your eyes just so, you will see that
there are five lightsthey arejonas
Because he can’t write or string more words together than required by an incoherent tweet, my guess is that TFG found it annoying to have to compose an actual essay-length blog post every few days, even if it was just dictated to an aide who then wrote it up and posted it. He really is a lazy, lazy man.
J R in WV
@Mustang Bobby:
And YOU do a great job, as opposed to TFG who can’t spell C-A-T if you spot him the C and the T…