Dem
47
GOP
53
As long as we are on the Trump beat, he has just announced yet another "opportunity" to own a Trump-branded product. Everyone knows about the vodka, and the steaks, and the collectable coins, and the crypto and the gold sneakers and the Bibles. You could guess for a very long time, and probably still not come up with the newest grift. It is—wait for it—a Trump-branded guitar.
If you want to see for yourself, the website is here. There are electric guitars that look like a Gibson Les Paul knockoff, and come in red, yellow, or black, or with an overwrought "patriotic" eagle graphic. Those all sell for $1,500. If you prefer acoustic, you can get one with a flag graphic or one with "God Bless the USA" painted on the neck for $1,000, or one with the overwrought eagle graphic for $1,250. If you want your guitar to be autographed by Trump, that adds roughly $10,000 to the price. That would make Trump the second-most-valuable of all presidential autographs, ahead of George Washington ($6,000), Abraham Lincoln ($5,000) or Thomas Jefferson ($4,000). (Are you wondering which president is MOST valuable? Take your best guess and then click here for the answer. It's guessable, but only if you think about the question in the right way.)
We struggle to understand why Trump debases himself by hawking these cheesy products. The amount he makes from selling guitars, even if they are wildly popular, is a pittance compared to what he's made from Truth Social, or what he made from selling phony cryptocurrency to Justin Sun. All we can come up with is that making money is like a disease with Trump, and he simply cannot pass up any opportunity to make a quick buck, even if it's kind of embarrassing.
That said, we do not write this item to mock Trump (that's just a bonus). It's to point out that he did everything possible to monetize the presidency the first time, and clearly he's planning to do so again. Of course, this time around, he doesn't have to worry about being reelected. And he doesn't have to worry too much about being prosecuted, in part because of the Supreme Court, in part because he is apparently bulletproof, and in part because he might not be alive by the time a successful prosecution, with appeals, reaches its conclusion. So, he is going to be on the take in a way that would make Boss Tweed blush. The only thing that might rein him in a little bit is the possibility that the Democrats win the House in 2026 and impeach him again, so he goes into the history books as impeached more often than all the other presidents combined. (Z)