The long-hemorrhaging publication has now ceased to progress forward.

In another announcement of a demise in the digital publishing realm the left-leaning outlet Think Progress is being decommissioned. Recent details were that the site, mired in debt, was being shopped around for new buyers. The announcement was made today that without any financial suitors successfully pinned down that the remaining staff would be released with severance, with some reallocated.

Think Progress was directly affiliated with the Democrat Party through the Center for American Progress. That the party-affiliated program would not be able (or willing) to sustain a foundering news outlet is telling. In the age of Donald Trump there should have been ample material to fuel a left-wing news outlet that had once been pledged to take down GOP opponents. Adding to the challenges was the staff deciding to unionize a few years back.

While long-established as a separate entity from CAP Think Progress has always existed under the umbrella of the organization. This year there had begun to be found visible signs that the Democrat think tank was distancing itself from the site. First came the news of the financial challenges faced by the site, something that would not be circulating had CAP been willing to underwrite the debts.

Another indicator of the deepening problems was this spring when Bernie Sanders erupted in direct conflict with the CAP over the editorial criticism he was receiving from Think Progress. This led to the presidential candidate leveling accusations of CAP about its donors dictating editorial content. CAP President Neera Tanden ended up making comments distancing Think Progress from the group. Making this all the more intriguing — Sanders’ campaign manager is a former editor-in-chief of Think Progress. His foreign policy advisor is also a TP veteran.

These events only seemed to illustrate the disposable nature of TP in the eyes of the Center for American Progress. The outfit was formed by John Podesta during the Clinton administration, and it remains a voice within the Democrat party. For the CAP to not see a viable reason to underwrite Think Progress stands in defiance of much that we hear from the media regarding President Trump.

If there was such an outcry of grassroots opposition then there should be enough of a hunger for the type of content offered by Think Progress. Further, not only does its demise show a lack of true audience desire but so does the fact that a major party outlet saw no intrinsic value in the site as we are on the brink of a major general election.

A news outlet that could guide The Resistance today, and be used as a serious news organ in an election cycle, being cast aside in this fashion spells out far more than the challenges being seen in the digital news evolution.