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These news stories have actually been lingering since last week; today just happens to be the day we got to them. That said, they are a pretty decent complement to the above item, as an illustration of the tendency of Donald Trump (and those in his orbit) to be Trump-first.
Let's start with the Donald himself, who has yet another new product for his sheep... er, supporters. Following on the heels of the Trump golden tennis shoes, and the Trump Bible, and the Trump sorta-cryptocurrency, and the Trump collectible coin, you can now own a... Trump watch.
There are two "styles" of Trump watches. The first is the "Fight! Fight! Fight!" style. It comes in several different colors, and at two different price levels. The higher price level is $799, and the various colors at that price level (mother of pearl, onyx gold tone, etc.) are allegedly limited to 1,000 (men's styles) or 500 (women's styles). The lower price level is $499, and the various colors levels at that price level are merely "limited." No number is given, we presume that means "limited to the exact number we manage to sell to the rubes... er, our customers."
The second "style" is the Tourbillion watch (Get it? It's not a Tourbillon, which is the correct term, it's a Tourbillion because Trump is allegedly a billionaire.) If you would be embarrassed to wear a Trump watch whose cost is only three figures—and who would blame you?—then this is the watch for you. There will allegedly be only 147 of them (presumably 47 because "president #47" and the additional 100 because "grift"), and they retail for a mere $100,000. That is not a typo.
Is there ANY possibility that the $100,000 watch is not some sort of scam? Yes, of course it's a scam in the sense that they're asking Patek Philippe prices for Donald-Trump-branded crap. But beyond that, this HAS to be a way to get around campaign finance laws, right? Like, "How many watches did you want, again, Mr. bin Salman? Thirty?" That said, all of this speaks to a guy who is nervous about his chances of winning, and is trying to grift while the grifting is good.
And speaking of grifters, let's move on to the only story in this item that isn't from last week. As most readers will have heard by now, baseball player Pete Rose died yesterday. He was a great, great player, but a bad, bad person. Most people know that he bet on baseball games in which he was involved as a manager, and was punished by being banned from baseball permanently. One can argue that the penalty is too harsh, but he knew that was the price when he chose to break the rules and, as they say "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." After being booted from baseball, Rose seized on pretty much any opportunity to make money off his name, most obviously signing copious numbers of baseballs with... whatever message the person wanted. (Z) saw him once, sitting at a table outside a collectibles shop in Las Vegas, with no takers. It was actually kind of depressing.
Anyhow, some of the schemes Rose participated in to profit off his name were pretty grifty. He was also an overall sleazeball, beyond his gambling and his moneymaking schemes. He cheated on his taxes, for example, and he got in deep trouble with the IRS. He also admitted, under oath, that he had a sexual relationship with an underage partner. That makes Rose a statutory rapist.
Trump, being a me-first guy, doesn't care about any of this (indeed, he probably admires the statutory rape). Here's the one and only thing that REALLY matters to the former President:
The GREAT Pete Rose just died. He was one of the most magnificent baseball players ever to play the game. He paid the price! Major League Baseball should have allowed him into the Hall of Fame many years ago. Do it now, before his funeral! DJT
For those who do not follow baseball, there is no way Rose gets into the Hall of Fame before his funeral, or... anytime after his funeral. Shoeless Joe Jackson was Hall-of-Fame worthy, and was banned under similar circumstances 105 years ago, and he's still not in.
Of course, the grifty behavior in the Trump household is not limited to Donald. Melania Trump, who is the inspiration for the headline on this item, has picked up a trick or two over the years. She has made virtually no campaign appearances this year. However, she did speak to the Log Cabin Republicans... twice. And for this, she was paid handsomely: $237,500. That is enough to buy two Trump Tourbillion watches, with enough left over for a few hundred Trump Bibles. The scandal here, beyond the fact that Melania has to be paid six figures to campaign for her husband, is that nobody knows where the payment came from. If it was paid for by Trump 2024, that expense should be on the FEC paperwork. It hasn't been. If it was paid for by someone else, it's a campaign contribution, and should be declared as such. It hasn't been. Of course, this is a relatively minor offense in the vast constellation of Trumpy wrongdoing, so it's unlikely anything will come of it.
Finally, the first TMTG rat has abandoned ship. TMTG Co-founder Andy Litinsky, who was a contestant on The Apprentice and who held 7.5 million shares of the Trump social media venture, sold all but 100 shares last week. Trump is not only a me-first guy, he's good at attracting me-first guys. Thus far the price of the stock has held, and even gone up a little, despite the stock dump. This is probably because Trump has yet to sell any shares, giving investors hope he won't try to cash out, and thus crash the stock. Whatever happens, Litinsky is $100 million richer, and will be laughing all the way to the bank if (well, when) the stock does crash. (Z)