The repository is a project by the otherwise neutral Internet Archive, known mostly for its Wayback Machine that allows users to peer backward to the early days of the world wide web via cached pages. The Trump Archive builds on the organization's experience making the Political Ad TV Archive they started in 2014. Likewise, the new collection's laser-focus on the incoming Commander-In-Chief hopes to help reporters, researchers and the general public fact-check old Trump statements from as far back as December 2009 with new ones, the Television Archive's managing editor Nancy Watzman said in a blog post.

But there's another reason for uploading the archive beyond Trump's upcoming inauguration, Watzman somberly reminds us: Things posted or broadcast on the Internet aren't inherently saved forever.

"Reporters and the public may take it for granted that a news story or a piece of broadcast video is only a google search away, but as newspapers, companies, and organizations fail and change, often vital information is lost. The web is far more fragile than is generally understood," said Watzman.