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Raw Story: 'Not so funny': Columnist warns Trump's 'tacky' merchandise is changing how voters think
Raw Story - 'Not so funny': Columnist warns Trump's 'tacky' merchandise is changing how voters think
Sarah K. Burris
December 23, 2024 3:06PM ET
The amount of "tasteless" merchandise being pushed out by Donald Trump is igniting questions about financial transparency ahead of the incoming president taking office.
MSNBC opinion writer Zeeshan Aleem wrote Monday that Trump's expensive gold shoes and AI trading cards might seem funny, but behind them the reality is that many Americans are falling for money-making schemes.
"The products are absurd, and he repeatedly demonstrates that even as a billionaire, he isn’t above desperately raking in a little more cash, and in the corniest ways possible," Aleem wrote. "What makes it not so funny is that there are a lot of people in America who don’t see through it.
"Trump is socializing huge parts of the electorate to think that it’s normal for a politician to monetize their public office and signal that government policy is potentially for sale to the highest bidder."
When Trump first came into office in 2017, he championed the idea of "draining the swamp" of a corrupt establishment he claimed ran Washington. Aleem noticed that the language disappeared from Trump's 2024 campaign and certainly isn't appearing now that he is raking in millions for his transition effort.
/snip
Sarah K. Burris
December 23, 2024 3:06PM ET
The amount of "tasteless" merchandise being pushed out by Donald Trump is igniting questions about financial transparency ahead of the incoming president taking office.
MSNBC opinion writer Zeeshan Aleem wrote Monday that Trump's expensive gold shoes and AI trading cards might seem funny, but behind them the reality is that many Americans are falling for money-making schemes.
"The products are absurd, and he repeatedly demonstrates that even as a billionaire, he isn’t above desperately raking in a little more cash, and in the corniest ways possible," Aleem wrote. "What makes it not so funny is that there are a lot of people in America who don’t see through it.
"Trump is socializing huge parts of the electorate to think that it’s normal for a politician to monetize their public office and signal that government policy is potentially for sale to the highest bidder."
When Trump first came into office in 2017, he championed the idea of "draining the swamp" of a corrupt establishment he claimed ran Washington. Aleem noticed that the language disappeared from Trump's 2024 campaign and certainly isn't appearing now that he is raking in millions for his transition effort.
/snip
14 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
When I saw the commercial for those things
I thought it looked like something Al Franken
and Tom Davis would have written for
Saturday Night Live
There are even Xmas tree ornaments to hang on your Xmas tree
I’ve seen other tacky junk with * face plastered on them, again
