In Donald Trump’s latest move to undo something established by his predecessor, Barack Obama, the administration is set to dismantle the “We the People” petition website created in 2011.
Don’t to be alarmed, though, because the White House says they promise to have it back up and running in 2018.
More from The Hill:
The “We The People” website, launched by then-President Obama in 2011, will be taken down on Tuesday at midnight, The Associated Press reported Monday.
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Officials told the AP that platform will be replaced with a new website in late January and that all of the existing petitions will be restored at that time.
The Trump administration has yet to respond to any petitions that have exceeded 100,000 signatures, which necessitate a response from the federal government.
Trump officials told the AP that the administration will begin responding to the petitions once the new website is live.
As the report noted, unlike the Obama administration, Trump’s White House has yet to respond to any of the site’s petitions that have garnered more than 100,000 signatures. If he sees no reason to follow the rules set by his predecessor, why not nix the whole operation altogether?
If the White House does fulfill its promise to “restore” the petition site in 2018 – which is by no means a certainty – odds are it’ll likely be a watered down version of what former President Obama was hoping to do when he created it six years ago.
Since taking office in January, Trump has done his best to drown out reality and listen only to the narrow fraction of the country who agrees with him. There seems to be no better way to continue this new tradition than by dismantling a tool for all Americans to petition their White House.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
