Niche dating websites are far from new, but not since Yeezy Dating has anything both amused and terrified me as much as the sites now popping up specifically for Trump supporters. In the name of journalistic exploration, I set up accounts on two different Trump dating websites to see what they were really all about. What I found really surprised me, but perhaps not in the way you’d think.
- I decided to be totally honest… and people didn’t like it. I chose both Trump Singles and Trump Dating simply to see how the two compared. While it was tempting to make completely fake profiles, I ended up using my own photo (the same one you can find below this article) and real name. In my descriptions, I wrote, “Just seeing what this website is all about.” Whenever I received a message, I responded that I wasn’t a Trump supporter looking for love or a connection but rather a writer trying to learn more. Most users chose not to further our conversation after that.
- Perhaps unsurprisingly, Trump Dating isn’t very LGBT-friendly. On the initial page of Trump Dating, users can only select “Straight Man” or “Straight Woman” and are automatically shown profiles of the another gender. I had the option to later change my search preference to “Any” as opposed to “Straight Men,” but this was only after I’d set up my account. But hey, we all know who the targeted demographic really is here, and it sure ain’t our LGBT friends. Trump Singles does allow you to search for the same gender, but not for both at the same time.
- Trump Dating is almost creepily pro-Trump. We get it already—it’s a dating website for Trump supporters. Still, the amount of pure Trumpiness was a bit nauseating. In addition to the slogan “Make dating great again!” (Trump Singles’ had almost the same one, by the way), the website emphasized matching “patriotic and political viewpoints” and encouraged users to “Find the America First partner of your dreams.” A lot of the users also proudly displayed their far-right conservative, pro-gun, super Christian preferences on their profiles. But hey, what was I really expecting?
- To be honest, a lot of the profiles seemed fake. As I browsed through profiles, I realized a lot of them were likely just extreme parodies of Trump voters made by internet trolls. While I saw them among people, they seemed especially prevalent among the LGBT profiles on Trump Singles. There was a woman whose profile said she was 24 years old despite depicting an older woman in a MAGA hat. Her hobbies included 69ing and “killing fagz.” Another woman messaged me asking why I supported Trump if I was a lesbian. I told her I was neither a lesbian nor a Trump supporter, just a writer exploring the website for journalistic purposes. She didn’t respond.
- Yes, some guys were jerks. One guy began a message asking for a “better photo that maybe shows the whole body,” while another responded with nothing but insults when I told him I wasn’t really a Trump supporter. While browsing profiles on both websites, there were oh-so-many men saying they were looking for a slim, beautiful, athletic woman with a great body and only mentioning desirable personality traits briefly and towards the end if at all. Ironically, none of these men appeared to be slim, beautiful, or athletic themselves. One memorable profile even stated that its user was “used to getting what I want all the time.” Then again, I’ve encountered a lot of jerks on every dating website I’ve ever been on, so nothing new here.
- Trump Singles seemed weirdly… normal. A lot of users there seemed to be just trying to save time in their search for love by joining a group of like-minded people. I didn’t even see too many pro-Trump statements, just a lot of ones that said their values were conservative and Christian. I actually started feeling very sympathetic towards a lot of the Trump Singles users, such as the friendly-looking single father, the older widowed farmer, and the young grad student who stated he was having a hard time finding women his age who shared his political views.
- In the end, they really weren’t that different from other dating websites. Sure, it’s easy for those of us who aren’t fans of Donald Trump to criticize those who are for seeking out love connections on platforms specifically made for them. But while I may not agree with them on a political or social level, I’m thinking now that maybe Trump dating sites aren’t such a mad idea after all. I’m still not a fan of Trump Dating due to the anti-LGBT suggestions and the fact that it just isn’t as user-friendly in design and pay structure. But if you’re a single American who happens to support Donald Trump and wants someone on the same page as you politically, maybe Trump Singles really is a viable option for finding love. Life is short, and if someone like Trump can become president, anything is possible.
