DC Trawler

Is Trump Really Going After A Teenager Over A Kitten Site?

(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

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There are many legitimate reasons to criticize Donald Trump. Much of his behavior is fair game. And yet people feel the need to keep making stuff up. Panicking over Trump has become a lucrative industry, and hoaxers are having a field day.

The other day I read a NY Observer story about Trump sending a cease and desist letter to a teenage girl for creating a joke site making fun of him. The story seemed plausible enough. That’s the sort of thing a thin-skinned guy like Trump would do, right?

Just one problem: When you go to the URL given in the story, it takes you to a site for Donald Trump “parody porn.” Wait, what?

Alex Griswold at the Washington Free Beacon did some digging:

The New York Observer reported on Tuesday that the Trump Organization sent a cease and desist letter to a California teenager requesting that she take down her website, but the Trump Organization denies they ever sent such a letter.

Supposedly, 17-year-old Lucy created a website called TrumpScratch.com in early March, where users can scratch up Trump’s digital face with kitten claws…

I’m thinking the Trump Organization is telling the truth about this one, because:

The most telling clue is that TrumpScratch.com was only registered as a domain for the first time the day after the piece went live.

Supposedly the young lady, known only as “Lucy,” changed the name of the site to KittenFeed.com. But the first online mention of that site came from a guy at a “digital marketing” firm:

And if you go to KittenFeed.com, as of the morning of March 23, you get RickRolled. Come on. Who even does that anymore?

Unless “Lucy” is willing to step forward and provide some solid proof, this one goes in the Nice Try file.

Just because you want to believe something doesn’t make it true. That’s good advice for all of us at any time, but especially in the Trump era. Even when it comes to the man himself.

No kitten.

(Hat tip: Tom Maguire)