'You don't hate to see it': ThinkProgress is officially shutting down and we seem to have misplaced our tiny violins

Pour one out for ThinkProgress, everybody:

ThinkProgress has shut down https://t.co/tj4deSHf1G

— Elliott Schwartz (@elliosch) September 6, 2019

The outlet, which served as an editorially independent project of the Democratic Party think tank Center for American Progress, will stop current operations on Friday and be converted into a site where CAP scholars can post. Top officials at CAP had been searching for a buyer to take over ThinkProgress, which has run deficits for years, and according to sources there were potentially three serious buyers in the mix recently. But in a statement to staff, Navin Nayak, the executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said the site was ultimately unable to secure a patron.

“Given that we could find no new publisher, we have no other real option but to fold the ThinkProgress website back into CAP’s broader online presence with a focus on analysis of policy, politics, and news events through the lens of existing CAP and CAP Action staff experts,” said Nayak. “Conversations on how to do so are just beginning, but we will seek to reinvent it as a different platform for progressive change.”

A dozen ThinkProgress employees will be losing their jobs, a CAP aide said, as many who were on staff had already gone to work elsewhere and some were incorporated into the larger CAP infrastructure. Those who are being laid off will be given a severance package that runs through the end of November and health care coverage that lasts through the year, said the CAP aide.

As for the actual website, thinkprogress.org will continue to exist. But it will no longer function as an independent enterprise focused on original reporting. Instead, according to Nayak, it will be folded “back into CAP’s broader online presence” as a sounding board for policy and political analysis by existing CAP and CAP Action staff experts.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

*breathe*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA https://t.co/SSdQClW5cX

— RBe (@RBPundit) September 6, 2019

pic.twitter.com/7UDCbqg9i0

— Tony and the Shandels (@LoneStarTexian) September 6, 2019

This warms my heart. https://t.co/fP2Iq5ae2U

— Senate Popular VotEEE (@EEElverhoy) September 6, 2019

you hate to see it pic.twitter.com/lCrCGgE2IX

— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) September 6, 2019

You don’t hate to see it. https://t.co/9YgzAS3nRE

— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) September 6, 2019

Not really, no.

We started off as a blog but have since evolved into a full-fledged and unionized newsroom. Our Editor in Chief has the final say, not the Center for American Progress.

— ThinkProgress Union (@TP_Union) April 12, 2019

Sending the @vox_union love and positive energy from our offices in DC! Keep up the good fight ✊✊✊✊✊ pic.twitter.com/lQpCG4g2jg

— ThinkProgress Union (@TP_Union) June 6, 2019

Oof.

????????? https://t.co/L88bTWVSEP

— Will (@Oil_Guns_Merica) September 6, 2019

Oh well.

So yeah, I'm officially unemployed. https://t.co/AEFLhrRS8K

— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) September 6, 2019

We might actually feel bad for Zack if he weren’t such a terrible person.

I almost never am happy to see someone lose their job. I’ve been there and it’s crushing. But some have used their status & platform to be vile, repugnant preachers of hate & it’s better they’re rejected. pic.twitter.com/j6PaTtEA6y

— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) September 6, 2019

Sorry, not sorry.

????. Too much competition from the mainstream media for an anti-Trump fueled progressive site to keep up their schtick. I’m sure they’ll all get jobs in mainstream networks now. https://t.co/5D9V62em9B

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 6, 2019

Well, just in case …