Donald Trump flexes new digital muscle

Donald Trump is beefing up his digital strategy as he enters the general election campaign against Hillary Clinton. The presumptive Republican nominee has rolled out a website highlighting what he says are lies told by Clinton and, for the first time, is e-mailing fundraising pitches to supporters, one of the key elements of a national campaign. “I think the early signs we’ve seen, from them activating a small dollar online plan coupled with the rollout of the microsite, tells me that the Donald Trump campaign is getting its footing,” said Michael Duncan, a partner at Cavalry, LLC, a political consultancy, who directed digital strategy for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) 2014 reelection bid. “I’m hopeful that it’s the first of many steps towards building out a more sophisticated digital operation," he said.

Trump’s campaign has taken a few steps in recent days to expand its digital footprint beyond the businessman’s Twitter account, which already has more than 9 million followers. It launched a website dedicated solely to making the case that Clinton is dishonest, a frequent line of attack for Trump. The site, what is known among digital operatives as a “microsite,” has its overall message embedded in the URL: LyingCrookedHillary.com. The creation of the site followed Trump’s first-ever fundraising e-mail in which he promised to make it “the most successful introductory fundraising e-mail in modern political history."