Trump.Dating

About

Trump.Dating is a dating website designed for and marketed towards supporters of United States President Donald Trump.

History

On February 5th, 2018, The Daily Caller^[1] published a statement from Trump.Dating founder Sean McGlosser announced the launch of the site. McGlosser describes the site as:

"This is the first modern, functional dating site designed by Trump supporters, for Trump supporters. Users can rest assured every person they are talking to is behind the president, with red, white, and blue blood that flows for America each and every day. Spread the word about the launch of our new freedom-based dating site, and head on over today to find love through Trump on Trump.Dating."

About two weeks later, after the site's launch, the company released a press release describing some changes to the site. First, they removed an option that allowed Married users on to the site, allowing the to select whether they were "Happily Married" or "Unhappily Married." Additionally, they removed an image on the splash page that featured a model who was convicted of "indecent liberties with a child."^[2]

Features

Trump.Dating works similar to other dating sites. When the user arrives on the splash page, they are allowed to join by selecting whether they are a "Straight Man" or a "Straight Woman" (shown below, left) Like some other politically conservative dating sites, homosexual and other LGBTQ users are unable to publicly join the site.^[3]

After creating a user account, the user can personalize their profile with a phyiscal descrption and a personal statement. Afterwards, they select their marital status, such as "Single," "Divorced," and "In an Open Relationship." Originally, the site also allowed users to include "Happily Married" and "Unhappily Married" (shown below, right). That feature, however, was removed several weeks after launch.

Registration is free, but there are membership costs. The site costs $24.99 a month or $101.94 for six months.

Highlights

Sex Offender Model

When the site launched on February 5th, the splash page featured an image of Jodi Riddleberger and her husband William Barrett Riddleberger wearing pink and red Make America Great Again hat, respectively (shown below). Two weeks later, on February 19th, the website The News & Observer^[4] reported that the image had been removed, and William Barrett Riddleberger had been convicted of "indecent liberties with a child," stemming "from a video of him having sex with a 15-year-old when he was 25."

That day, the site^[5] commented on the controversy, saying that the image was removed due to the controversy. They wrote:

"Additionally, on February 19th, the identity of the couple in the homepage image surfaced -- most notably the man’s 25-year-old conviction of sexual impropriety. The minute our team was notified of these details, the couple’s photo was removed from the Trump.Dating site. We replaced it with a stock photo from our database. Their photo was a user submission. The couple’s history was not revealed to us in anyway beforehand or while the photo was live on the site. They are not spokesmodels. They are not spokespersons. They no longer represent the Trump.Dating image."

Founder Mystery

In an article regarding the site, The Washington Post^[2] described some discrepancies in some of the Trump.Dating's press materials, particularly the name of the site's founder. The site's announcement states that the founder is Sean McGossier with an "i." However, the site also credits the spokesperson as "Sean McGossler." However, they did not respond to questions about whether or not they are the same person.

Search Interest

External References