I'm sure that by now you've seen the news that Trump may be in a bit of financial trouble. All those leveraged properties. (Nearly a billion coming due.) All that declining business (especially now that he's not golfing at Mar-a-Lago on our dime every weekend, and putting the Secret Service up in overpriced hotel rooms). All those fraudulent valuations used to flim-flam banks and the IRS. (NY's AG breathing down his neck.) He may not be broke-broke, but he always lied about his worth. And that worth is worth a lot less than what he's claimed.
Thus we see him tapping the Republican Party coffers to pay for his legal bills. And the laughable specter of Mrs. Grifter-in-Chief trying to raise some pocket money by selling a hat she wore for an official state occasion. And an NFT of the hat. And selling it for - what else? - crypto.
Trump did manage to make pretty good coin during his runs for office and time in the White House - all those MAGA hats - but what looks like a fortune to most of us is a pittance when you've got to keep the myth of supreme wealth going.
He's still got his official physical and online stores, like the TrumpStore, which sells a few MAGA items, but mostly offers tacky apolitical overpriced Trump-branded stuff, like golf caps from one of his resorts.
But the official wares are supplemented by a parallel economy of ersatz Trump-branded ephemera sold at roadside stands, state-fair booths, strip-mall stores, online marketplaces, and by a caravan of itinerant salespeople who follow him from rally to rally. (Source: The New Yorker)
This parallel economy includes LetsGoBrandon - which came up first when I googled. It's a site that predictably offers anti-Biden items. But, surprisingly, it also sells Let's Go Darwin merch, and some Black History themed T's (including a 1619 sweatshirt) that don't seem belittling or racist.
I don't imagine they sell many of those, but anything for a buck, I guess.
Although LetsGoBrandon calls itself an official site - whatever that means - I'm guessing it's just a make-a-buck outfit that's grifting off the biggest grifter of them all, depriving Trump of the opportunity to bring in extra loot.
There are plenty of those strip mall stores - more concrete block than brick and mortar - around, even in Massachusetts. I don't see anyone sporting anything to do with Trump from one month to the next, but I live in a total bubble. Among the tasteful items you can get at one of the New England for Trump stores is this crudely rendered Christmas ornament. Nothing says 'keep Christ in Christmas' like an FJB message using colors associated with the trans community. This is advertised as an LGB Snowflake Ornament. Given the colors, I first thought that the LGB stood for Lesbian, Gay, Bi - truncating the more inclusive LGBTQ acronym. But no. It's "Let's Go Brandon."
Ho, ho, ho.
It's the "caravan of itinerant salespeople who follow him from rally to rally" that caught the eye of The New Yorker, which recently did a spread on them. (I can only imagine what the intersection is between Trump hucksters and New Yorker readers.)
Trump has a marketer’s instinct for catchphrases and in-jokes; the merchandising apparatus that’s sprung up around him is nimble enough that the meme of the moment—“Let’s Go, Brandon,” for example—can make its way onto shirts within days. The red maga hat, although still ubiquitous, is no longer the best-seller; several venders told me that, these days, anti-Biden merch is more popular than pro-Trump options. Shoppers like the “Jesus Is My King, Trump Is My President” shirts, but they also don’t mind a little vulgarity. I asked an elderly sovereign citizen in a salmon-colored sweater what his most popular items were. “Today, it’s ‘Fuck Biden,’ ” he said. “Sometimes it’s ‘Screw Biden,’ sometimes it’s ‘Biden Sucks and So Do You for Voting for Him,’ sometimes it’s ‘Fuck Biden, Fuck Harris, and Fuck You for Voting for Them.’ ” Then he corrected me: he didn’t sell his flags—he traded them, which meant, he believed, that he was not subject to commerce regulations. “Most people trade cash,” he admitted. “But I’ve been offered spare tires. I’ve been offered towing chains.”
Good to see that Trump crap venders have adopted his skim-where-you-can attitude toward regulation.
Last year was a tough one for Trump stuff venders. After the election year highs, there was the low of covid and the lack of rallies. The hope is that 2022 will bring Trump out more.
Not all the rally merchandisers are true believers. But, as one businessman who follows the Trump industry, "we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity because of Donald Trump—conservative merchandise is just booming."
One of the merchants in the recent Arizona rally was just looking to make enough scratch to get back to Oklahoma and hire a lawyer. (He's got a felony B&E hanging over him.) "I don't mind him, I think, but it's financial for me," he told the reporter.
But others are all in - even those who admit that the ACA has helped them out, etc.
And they're all loving the possibility of Trump 2024 to keep the Trump merch gravy train going.
As the fellow said, it's a "once in a generation" thang. I don't see the Trump rally and merch magic transferring to Ron DeSantis, Tom Cotton, Nikki Haley, or Greg Abbott.
As for Trump, I'm sure while he revels in whatever adulation comes his way at the rallies, it galls him that he isn't getting a piece of all this rogue merchandise with his name on it. (Why do I keep coming back to the line from The Godfather about 'wetting my beak.')
Oh, he can still sell pre-rally lunch meetings ($100K per couple) and round tables ($50K per couple) to his more well-heeled supporters (who aren't exactly his prime rally attendees). While that money doesn't go directly into his pocket, I'm sure he'll find a way to siphon a bit out of his PAC and into his wallet.
Meanwhile, whether they're Trumpists or capitalists, the merchants of Trump might as well enjoy it while they can. This crazy phenomenon can't last much longer, can it????
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