(New York Daily News) The White House website is now in Trump territory.
In the first few days of the Trump administration, whitehouse.gov lost its Spanish pages and content about civil rights, LGBT rights, global warming and regulations — while adding a new statement about America’s “dangerous anti-police atmosphere.”
It is not usual for a new President to wipe the webpages of his predecessor. President Obama and President Bush both tailored the White House page to their own administrations; their versions of the site are now archived.
But the swiftness and specificity of the Trump changes show a radical overhaul of the website to align with some of President Trump’s most controversial policy priorities.
Trump is now the first President since Bill Clinton to not have a Spanish version of the website. Trump notoriously targeted Mexico on the campaign trail, vowing to “build a wall” on the border and cease trade deals. He also criticised GOP candidate Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, for speaking Spanish on the trail, telling him to “set an example and speak English while in the United States.”
Trump also spoke out against regulations and attempts to curb global warming, while taking either antagonistic or apathetic stance to civil rights strides from the Obama era. He announced Monday he planned to cut business regulations by “75%, maybe more.”
The White House pages that once featured facts and reports about regulation and climate change now direct to “not found” pages.
The same goes for links leading to former pages describing civil rights and LGBT rights.
It is possible such pages will eventually appear as the Trump administration continues building out its new version of the site.
So far, though, one of the few new additions focuses on Trump’s “law and order” theme of supporting law enforcement.
“The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong,” says a new statement on the site.
“The Trump administration will end it.”
There are also several pages devoted to Trump’s “America First” policies of withdrawing from international trade and defence deals he believes are hurting America’s domestic interests.
Obama’s director of new media said the immediate changes make it all too clear what Trump will prioritise as President — and what he will not.
“Whitehouse.gov should reflect the priorities and point of view of the President. It’s a tool of that office,” he told Politifact.
The White House has also shut down its public comment line, which was once staffed by volunteers taking calls from citizens, and is instead directing users to contact the White House or Trump through Facebook Messenger. But as Variety pointed out, those Facebook Messenger accounts have not been set up.
