Ahead of his swearing in on Friday Donald Trump is suddenly in everything and everywhere. A dating site that matches Trump-supporting singles is enjoying a spike in membership ahead of the president-elect’s inauguration Friday. TrumpSingles.com members pay $19.95 a month to use the service.
TrumpSingles.com has racked up around 24,000 members since its official launch in June, making a fortune of $478,800.
David Goss, the site’s founder, told FoxNews.com that membership jumped by about 5,000 after Donald Trump’s shock election victory in November, and another wave of new members has just signed up, reports Fox News.
“We have had an even bigger response now, in the last few days,” he said. “We have had five to six thousand in the last two-and-a-half days.”
“In the last three days we have had more people come to the site than we have since we started,” Goss, added.
The site, which aims to “make dating great again” was set up by Goss, a Republican, when he saw the bitterness that accompanied last year’s presidential election.
“It was basically the divisiveness of the election season,” he said.
“I have friends that I talk to that are Democrats and Republicans that have related stories of going on dates and when the topic of politics is mentioned, the date turns sour from there.”
TrumpSingles.com is not the only dating site to emerge amid the tumult of the 2016 presidential election.
Maple Match, for example, helps Americans fleeing the Trump presidency find a Canadian soulmate.
Goss attributes the recent spike in TrumpSingles.com membership partly to the media attention the site has received, as well as Trump supporters seeking kindred spirits.
“With the amount of hate that Trump supporters get, they want a community to go to, especially folks that are in more liberal areas,” he said. “For example, it’s hard being a Republican in the L.A. area – it’s not an easy thing.”
Meanwhile, a new endangered species of moth has been named in honour of President-elect, Donald Trump by scientists because the insect shares his hairstyle.
The new moth, officially described as “Neopalpa donaldtrumpi”, stands out with yellowish-white scales present on the head in adults, according to the research published in the journal ZooKeys.
It was in these scales that evolutionary biologist Vazrick Nazari from Ottawa, Canada found an amusing reference to Trump’s hairstyle and turned it into an additional justification for its name.
“With its hair tufts, its presence in U.S. and Mexico, and its fragile habitat that needs conservation, I really did not have any choice with this one other than to name the moth after Mr President-elect himself,” Nazari said.
Nazari said he also chose the name to bring awareness to conservation challenges.
“By naming this species after the 45th President of the United States, I hope to bring some public attention to the importance of conservation of the fragile habitats in the United States that still contain undescribed and threatened species, and generate interest in the importance of alpha-taxonomy in better understanding the neglected micro-fauna component of the North American biodiversity,” he said.
It is a mission Nazari hopes Trump’s administration will appreciate.
“Having a species named after you is almost always an honour, since your name becomes immortal in the scientific literature.
“I am hoping that by appealing to Mr Trump’s good nature, the next administration will make an effort to continue protecting the fragile habitats in the US that are home to as of yet unknown species,” Nazari said.
