Hurry Up For Your Trump Camo Pet Collars, Trump Beach Balls And So Much More
One day after I began researching Trump scams, I got an unsolicited Facebook post from the Trump Store hyping 71 new products, including everything from a Trump Football for $129.50 (it’s a football with the word “Trump” on it), a blue, Trump beach ball, now at the low price of $6.99, down from the original price of $12, and for the doggies in your MAGA life, a Trump Camo Pet Collar for $18.
Like a freight train, out of control, the trump scam parade keeps chugging on, with no end in sight.
The latest trump merch are something called TRB cards and Trump Bucks, both worthless other than providing a cash cow to pay for trump’s mounting, millions of dollars in legal bills and his 2024 campaign. Trump has been begging for donations to prove his baseless case that the 2020 election was fixed and that he was the rightful winner. But according to the New York Times, most of the donations have been funneled to to trump’s personal PAC and not to battle, non-existent election fraud.
“You can expect to receive your order within seven business days without any extra fees. Your purchase is also covered by a sixty-day money-back guarantee,” says the TRB website honoring the man who scammed thousands with his bogus Trump University and whose company was just found guilty of widespread tax fraud.
The TRB cards website show a photo of trump sternly pointing to his minions to buy the collectible cards or else. The cards carry a photo of trump and range in cost from $499 for 10 cards to $89.90 for one card. A disclaimer notes the cards are “commemorative and solely intended as memorabilia and it should in no way be considered an investment opportunity.”
Of course, the website includes bloated reviews by sated customers. Each mysteriously had misspellings, typical of trump postings. One said “The quality of the bill is very good. It looks very shiny and beautiful.”
“I do feel it’s a quality item, it feels solid in my hand. I think the description summed it up perferctly. Family & Friends believe it to be a great future investment item,” notes another review from “Chris.”
Lea wrote that she “bought one and when the bill came i was impressed. I just did my order for 100 more for my family. You have to own this unique bill!”
And Brian Scott of Prescott, Ariz., raved that “It is as good as it looked in the picture. Feels like a quality, real Bucks. Everyone I showed it to thought it looked great and asked how they could get one. It’s definitely going into my collection.”
And Marbleman980 of Greenfield, Ind., gushed, “I think it’s high quality. He needs to be honored on Mount Rushmore as one of the greatest presidents ever. Family thinks it’s great!”
Someone named Mallory Miller, who writes a blog, alternativescience.org, posted a “Trump Check Review; SCAM OR LEGIT?” Miller wrote that the Donald J. Trump Golden Check “represents hope. Hope that America will once again be a prosperous and respected nation. Hope that our country will be united and strong.”
“My faith in Trump was already strong but now it’s unshakeable. He’s rewarding patriots like us for our fanatical support during his last presidency, as well as the next one coming,” said Miller who is about as objective as a loving mother.
Mille notes on the blog that “Together with my husband, Mike, we bring you the very best in scientific research and product reviews so you don’t have to waste precious time or money. We’re just a normal American couple trying to learn more about the world and live the best lives we can.”
Trumpchristmasbox.com. shows a photo of a beaming trump and melania, hyping the “EXCLUSIVE CHRISTMAS BOX” which sells for $149 to $499. The boxes contain various amounts of Diamond Trump Checks, VIP Golden Bucks, Diamond VIP Bucks and TRB cards and checks, all commemorative gold foil bills that look like real currency other than the smiling or stern likeness of trump or the photo of the beaming trump and straight-faced, Melania.
“With this box, you can show your close friends and family that you’re a true American Patriot. 74 million Americans love Trump. That’s why this has become the number one best selling product,” according to the website.
“Trump Buck is a kind of commemorative currency intended to express admiration for Donald Trump. It is claimed that the admirers of former President Donald Trump usually need something in his honor,” the website claims. “In addition, the majority of individuals want to amass a significant quantity of Trump Dollars to add to their collections. The fundamental reason for establishing Trump Bucks is to demonstrate support for the courageous Republican candidate. However, people cannot use it as cash since it is intended to express support for Trump.”
If it looks like a scam and sound like a scam, it probably falls light years short of legit. Good luck for anyone seeking an objective report on TRB cards and Trump Bucks. A Google search turns up page after page after page of paid ads promoting the beauty and wonder of trump merch but nothing approaching an objective report on their value.
Trump is undaunted as he collects millions from the sale of all kinds of tacky, trump merch. If trump disappears, untold numbers of parasites who rake in the money off the sale of trump merch are likely to suffer.
There are no TRB cards of Trump Bucks for sale at the TrumpStorePa.com gazebo set up by a young trump supporter on weekends across from the Bottle King. But there are all kinds of other MAGA merch and tchotchkes, from T-shirts to lanyards to the iconic MAGA hats to “Let’s Go Brandon” shirts. The young man who runs the table said he gets the sales proceeds and “donates” a portion to trump.
The TrumpStorePa.com table has a small sampling of trump merch and much more is available on the website, from the “Q Bell” T-shirt with a picture of the Liberty Bell and the acronym, WWGIWGA, short for the QAnon conspiracy phrase “Where We Go One, We Go All.” The shirt sells for $22 to $26. Thre’s the Trump 2024 Mens Slides for $45, a TRUMP 2024, Wine Tumbler for $26, the “Fire And Brimstone” 2024 T-shirt for $22.50 to $30.50. There’s a “Cops For Trump” T-shirt for $22 to $26, a “Trump2024 Fuck Your Feelings” T-shirt for $22.50 to $30.50, depending on the size, and a Trump 100 Dollar Bill for $10.
TrumpStorePa.com is apparently related to the overarching trump merch website, Trump Store, which claims to pull in around $100,000 in sales a day with the proceeds going to trump’s political action committee, Trump Make America Great Again Committee. The PAC raised a total of $29,634,872.46 from various sources from Jan. 1, 2011 through Nov. 28, 2022, according to the Federal Election Commission.
The trump store sold more than $20 million worth of merchandise since July 2016, according to a published report. It was formed in 2015 by Christl Mahfouz, owner of Ace Specialties, based in Lafayette, La. Since 2015, Ace Specialties has been the official merchandise provider and distributor for the Trump campaign. All purchases made on the website counts as a contribution to the Trump campaign.
Alex Sarp is manager of the Trump Store, a fundraising partnership between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. She said the on-line store does around $100,000 in sales a day. Sarp said that in line with the ever-present trump slogan, “Make America Great Again,” all trump items are made in the U.S. Well not all.
Scam.
HuffPast reported in 2017 that most of the merch is in fact, not made in America. Trump merch that is made in America is a very short list, and includes those ubiquitous MAGA hats; Trump Water sourced in Vermont and New York; and Trump Bedding, which includes Downlite made in the U.S. although the shell is made in China.
A partial list of trump items not made in the U.S. include Ivanka Trump Shoes (China), Donald Trump Ties (China), Donald Trump Suits (Mexico), Donald Trump Dress Shirts (Bangladesh), Donald Trump Chandeliers (made in part in China), and Trump Throw blankets (China).
Then there’s the MAGA Mall, a privately-owned, on-line store that sells retail MAGA stuff and wholesales products to state and county Republican parties and conservative clubs. MAGA Mall products are prominent at gatherings like the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference in Dallas, Texas; Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit in Tampa, Fla.; and the Palm Beach County Republican Party Lincoln Dinner.
“Our team is a group of patriotic Americans who love President Trump and our country,” said MAGA Mall founder, Ronald Solomon.
Solomon, an investment banker and lifelong Republican, began selling trump merch in 2016. Today, the MAGA Mall website offers more than 180 hats, more than a dozen product categories, including greeting cards, rhinestone caps and “Not My Dictator” T-shirts featuring Democrats like Biden and Gov. Steve Sisolak of Nevada and a flag with a caricature of trump urinating on the name “Joe Biden.”
Trump’s scams aren’t in any way limited to retail sales. The Center for Public Integrity reported that trump left office with at least $1.82 million in unpaid rally debt to 14 cities, including a $543,000 bill from Minneapolis for a rally in October 2019. The city of Albuquerque, N.M., has referred the trump campaign’s unpaid rally debt of $211,175 to a collections agency.
The trump campaign also has been forced to refund more than 530,000 donations worth more than $64 million after online donors complained about scam tactics that drained their bank accounts each month without their knowledge.
And a dispute over legal payments led five of trump’s impeachment attorneys abruptly quit just over a week before his 2021 Senate trial was set to begin.