One of the defining characteristics of Donald Trump\u2019s rallies is the emergence of an ad hoc marketplace of Trump-related merchandise. If it is made of cloth, is red and carries the name \u201cTrump,\u201d it\u2019s there and it\u2019s for sale.<\/p>\n
A businessman like Trump might be expected to have mixed feelings about such a display. On the one hand, it\u2019s a demonstration of the extent of enthusiasm of his supporters. On the other, it\u2019s a lot of money being made from his name going into other peoples\u2019 pockets.<\/p>\n
But then, he\u2019s still making a lot of money off his own name, too. In fact, he seems to be making an increasing amount of money selling the Trump brand \u2014 at the potential expense of the Trump candidacy.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, for example, Trump announced the fourth collection of his non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards \u2014 digital images that are theoretically constrained to increase their value. You may recall the flurry of excitement around NFTs a few years ago, with similar images inexplicably selling for thousands of dollars before plunging in value. Trump was late to this game, but he\u2019s stuck with it, probably because Trump\u2019s NFTs offer something more than a poorly photoshopped image of Trump dressed up as a cowboy: They offer access to Trump.<\/p>\n
If you are one of the first 25 people to buy 250 of these new NFTs, the website proclaims, you get a staggering package of goodies: two VIP dinners with Trump and two cocktail receptions, as well as three pairs of signed sneakers (more on those in a second) and some actual physical trading cards, among other things. All for the low price of \u2026 let\u2019s see, each card retails for $99, so: $24,750.<\/p>\n
This package, mind you, does not include the commemorative card that is adorned with a piece of the suit Trump wore during his debate with President Joe Biden earlier this year. For that particular relic, you need to spend about $1,500 on 15 trading cards.<\/p>\n
The money Trump is encouraging his supporters to spend doesn\u2019t go toward getting him elected. The website insists that \u201cthese Digital Trading Cards are not political\u201d \u2014 sure \u2014 \u201cand have nothing to do with any political campaign.\u201d The company simply \u201cuses Donald J. Trump\u2019s name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Digital LLC, which license may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.\u201d<\/p>\n
CIC Digital LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, the entity established when Trump won the presidency to theoretically separate himself from his business interests.<\/p>\n
CIC Digital LLC is different from CIC Ventures LLC, also a subsidiary of the Trump Trust. (The \u201cCIC\u201d here is presumably short for \u201ccommander in chief,\u201d which would perhaps not be how the Founding Fathers expected that title to be used.) CIC Ventures is the partner of the aforementioned sneaker salespeople.<\/p>\n
Want shoes showing a stylized image of Trump immediately after he was shot last month? $299. Want the gold ones, titled \u201cNever Surrender\u201d after Trump\u2019s response to having been arrested in Georgia? $499. The Timberland-style boots are $199. The orange bitcoin\/Trump shoes are apparently sold out; they went for $299 as well. (You will notice, as we go through all of this, that cryptocurrency is an undercurrent. That\u2019s not a coincidence.)<\/p>\n
Perhaps you\u2019re simply looking to impress the guys at the frat house with your support for Trump. The sneaker people have an array of products designed for you: sandals\/slides ($149), a cooler ($299) and Trump-branded cologne, titled \u201cVictory\u201d ($119).<\/p>\n
Trump also recently plugged a Telegram channel for something called \u201cWorld Liberty Financial,\u201d a cryptocurrency-oriented group with an unclear goal. Among the sparse posts at Telegram, though, there was an offered warning: \u201cPlease be aware of scams and fake tokens claiming to be associated with \u2018Defiant Ones,\u2019 \u2018World Liberty,\u2019 or similar names. Do not engage with these tokens!\u201d Scams? In crypto??<\/p>\n
There are, of course, plenty of offerings for Trump\u2019s more traditional base of support. There\u2019s the Trump Bible, retailing for about $60. (The website also helpfully explains what to do if your Bible\u2019s pages are sticking together.) And there are the other quasi-religious Trump books any true supporter will have to flesh out his or her library.<\/p>\n
The newest is \u201cSave America,\u201d which Trump touted as \u201ca FANTASTIC new Book\u201d for which he \u201chand-selected every Photo, from my time in the White House, to our current third Campaign for President of the United States.\u201d It\u2019s only $99 \u2014 unless you want it signed, which tacks on $400.<\/p>\n
For $399, you can get a signed copy of the book \u201cLetters to Trump,\u201d which is what it sounds like. The first book published by the firm responsible for these tomes, called Winning Team Publishing, was \u201cOur Journey Together,\u201d which is now only $74.99. If you want the full \u201cOur Journey Together\u201d bundle \u2014 including a special edition of the book, one of Donald Trump Jr.\u2019s books and a \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hat \u2014 you only need to shell out $999. (Donald Trump Jr. is a co-founder of Winning Team Publishing.)<\/p>\n
If you only want a MAGA hat, Winning Team has those, too, though it doesn\u2019t appear that sales of these explicitly campaign-oriented hats actually kick anything back to the campaign. They retail for about $30, the same as the Donald Trump-shaped Bluetooth speaker also sold on the website.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s fancier supporters might be in the market for higher-end products. A standard-sized bottle of Trump wine, from Trump Winery, retails for as much as $94.99 \u2014 though the person who benefits would be Trump\u2019s son Eric. For that same price, you can also buy (as of writing) almost five shares of Trump Media & Technology Group stock. Whether that stock or the NFTs are a better investment is a question better answered by economists, but it\u2019s been an unalloyed boon for Trump himself.<\/p>\n
Further along the income scale, the Trump Organization still offers memberships at its clubs and golf courses \u2014 more expensive than buying 250 NFTs but a better way to ensure face time with Trump on a regular basis. Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago Club\/home now welcomes new members for only $700,000 a year. But hurry; the price will reportedly jump to $1 million in October. No wonder profits at Mar-a-Lago have quadrupled since Trump left office.<\/p>\n
Almost all of this \u2014 the NFTs, the sneakers, the memberships, the books \u2014 kicks some portion of what customers pay back to Trump in one form or another. (He made $300,000 from the Bibles, for example.) All while his campaign complains in fundraising emails to supporters about being outpaced by Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n
This is the contradiction that\u2019s lingered around Trump since he announced his 2016 candidacy: He wants to be both a businessman and a candidate at the same time. Except Trump, it seems, doesn\u2019t see it as much of a contradiction at all.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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