The situation looked promising for The Right Stuff, a conservative dating app backed by billionaire Peter Thiel and co-founded by former Trump administration official John McEntee. Launched 12 weeks ago, the startup generated 40,000 downloads, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower.

Things seemed to be on the up and up, The Daily Beast reports.

Then the bottom fell out.

Between November 1st and December 20, the numbers dropped to only 11,000 downloads. Data from another analytics firm, Appfigures, painted a slightly better picture, but still reflected a downward spiral, with 44,000 downloads in October, and 17,000 in the weeks that followed.

The Right Stuff is beset by negative reviews and criticism from the very demographic it is aimed at: young conservatives. The app’s verification process is rigorous as it attempts to foster a sense of exclusivity and prevent trolls, making it inoperable for many users.

“I downloaded this app more than two months ago, even got sent a package from them to become an ambassador, and STILL have not been accepted onto the app. That’s ridiculous and unacceptable,” one user posted on Dec. 19.

Other users dislike the app’s invite-only business model.

“How can someone in a heavily liberal area get an invite… Most people around this area wouldn’t download this app, much less send an invite,” one user wrote. “Rather dumb.”

And some young female conservatives in Washington appear to echo this sentiment.

“I mean, I don’t know anyone on the app. Don’t think it’s going great,” said one influential conservative staffer based in Washington, D.C. in an interview with The Daily Beast. She also said the company goofed by launching in the D.C. market, “especially with a Democrat administration.”

Here’s another dumb point: The dating app is still not available on the Google Play store, and that’s really kind of ridiculous. Were it available Android users would then be able to join.

Silly.

Currently, The Right Stuff holds a rating of 2.5 in the App Store, with roughly 1,200 reviews. There is, of course, the usual negative feedback and it looks like some of this may be courtesy of bogus users, including SisterFister9k, who declared “I don’t trust anything that wants to look through my phone and tries to invade MY privacy.” Other users have voiced objections to the company’s requests to access phone contact lists.

And as I mentioned earlier, gaining access to the app seems to be slower than molasses going uphill in a New York January. Conservative activist Michael Butler, who relies on his Android, said that even after all this time he still doesn’t have access. “I understand that iPhone users are the priority because they’re a larger segment of the population,” he told The Daily Beast. But he also added that the company was in attendance at Turning Point USA’s most recent conference in Arizona in mid-December, where it “ran out of hats and hoodies.”

Perhaps this could be considered a bit of payback for Peter Thiel, a Trump-supporting billionaire, and tech founder since he has donated to the former president’s campaign and funded the downfall of Gawker Media. He’s now withdrawing from the board of Meta Platforms (otherwise known as Facebook). He may use that extra free time to boost his political efforts, CNN reports.

It’s safe to assume he’s not terribly pleased that his conservative dating site is struggling, and it may soon face another problem: Another dating service also named The Right Stuff existed before. That site, however, isn’t political, and the company’s founder Dawne Touchings told The Daily Beast last September that she intended to have her lawyer contact the app about this. The Daily Beast contacted Touchings and her lawyer for comment but neither has responded.

But ever since the app went live, online trolls have been having a field day, even though they have been largely kept off the platform. So instead they’ve resorted to mocking it via App store reviews.

“I’ve found so many perfect women on here, and the best part [is] that they’re all white!” wrote on person on October 7. “I found my current girlfriend on this app, and she is just perfect. We’ve been dating for 11/2 years now, but we’ve been related for 18.”

So I’m glad the mighty are stumbling here. It’s like my dear old daddy used to say: “You lie down with dogs, you get fleas.”

Thank you, dad!