It’s Friday, so why not discuss a moron? A little over a month ago Donald Trump ranted that New York was “boring” and “will die in the near future” and now he’s back at it again. Only this time, he added New York columnist Jonathan Chait to his list.

.@nymag is a piece of garbage but I think it is very nice & charitable that they employ the no-talent illiterate hack @jonathanchait.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2013

The problem here (well, one of the problems) is that to be a hack, you sort of have to be literate. But hey, it was a nice try.

The American Prospect, the liberal magazine that publishes 10 times a year, is in dire straits. The Huffington Post reports that, unless the title comes up with about $500,000, the July/August issue, which closes in May, will be its last.

Kit Rachlis, the American Prospect’s Editor-in-Chief, is currently pulling out all the stops to make sure that doesn’t happen. She told HuffPo that staffers are “making an all-points effort to fill that gap with individual donors, institutional donors, as well as readers and subscribers.”

If you think the American Prospect hasn’t made much of an impact, thus it won’t be missed, here are just a few journalists who got their start there: Ezra Klein, Suzy Khimm, Joshua Green, Nick Confessore, Garance Franke-Ruta, Jonathan Chait and Ann Friedman.

New York had one hell of a 2011. The magazine posted 2,607 ad pages for the year, up almost six percent from 2010, and good enough to beat practically all other magazines, other than People, which finished first. This is according to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB).

This comes as little surprise to most people who have been keeping an eye on New York. Last year saw the magazine snap up Frank Rich and Jonathan Chait, have a couple articles optioned to become movies, take home multiple Ellies and much more.

The digital side of New York enjoyed a good 2011 as well. In October nymag.com topped 10 million uniques for the first time, spearheaded by blogs that post new content every six minutes.

Larry Burstein, Publisher of New York, was obviously pleased with how last year went. “Our success in 2011 shows the company’s transformation from what was once considered an influential regional magazine to a print and digital juggernaut,” said Burstein. “We’ve built an entirely new audience online, drawn to award-winning political writers, innovative fashion and entertainment coverage, and sophisticated service journalism.”

In advance of the upcoming presidential election, New York magazine has launched a new online politics channel. Titled Early & Often, the site offers a constant stream of content from some of the magazine’s best, including Frank Rich, Dan Amira, Noreen Malone, Gabriel Sherman, Chris Smith, John Heilemann and Jonathan Chait.

The site is a welcome addition because it collects all of New York’s political news in one spot. Adam Moss, New York’s Editor-in-Chief, said Early & Often is a response to the magazine expanding its reporting.

“National politics has been a crucial part of New York magazine since its founding, which has steadily increased over the last five years, and the time has clearly come for us to give politics its own destination at nymag.com,” said Moss. “We have assembled a uniquely talented team to cover all aspects of our current political climate and the 2012 election cycle.”

UPDATE:
A tipster noted that this is Early & Often’s second iteration. Here’s a link to the old site, which stopped posting in 2006.

September was a historical month for New York, as its website topped 10 million unique visits for the first time. While that’s great news, the best part about it might be that about 90% of the users during that time were enjoying web-only content. That is because the digital verticals that make up NYMag.com have all become brands on their own.

Vulture has become a force in the pop culture world, Daily Intel is a great source for breaking news and politics (especially now that they have Jonathan Chait contributing), and The Cut has become a must read for commentary on the fashion industry. Not only are these blogs delivering quality, they don’t skimp on quantity either: Adam Moss recently said that NYMag.com publishes new content every six minutes during the week. Every six minutes!

With over 10 million visits it’s inevitable that some of those people end up becoming print subscribers, so beyond increasing digital ad revenue, those hits help the magazine’s numbers as well. New York appears to have found a winning strategy. Don’t be shocked if other titles follow its lead.

Some moves for you to start your day: Newsweek/The Daily Beast has named Rob Gregory as its President, a new position at the company. Gregory was most recently with Plum TV, and was a veteran with Wenner Media before that. Gregory said of joining the team, “Newsweek and The Daily Beast deliver the ideal combination of immediacy and perspective, with a voice that is razor sharp, smart and fearless.”

New York magazine is also adding to its roster, bringing aboard Jonathan Chait. Chait was most recently a Senior Editor at The New Republic. Chait told Politico, “Obviously I love TNR and had no plans to leave, but the opportunity at New York was irresistible. Everybody who works there raves about it, and my friends in journalism have noticed for a while it’s become phenomenal.”