Trump’s “Major Announcement” was “Digital Trading Card” NFTs
- Former President Donald Trump teased a big announcement Wednesday on Truth Social.
- On Thursday, he revealed that it involved the sale of digital NFT cards with his image emblazoned on each one.
- The NFTs are not owned, managed or controlled by Trump or the Trump Organization. It’s unclear what cut Trump will get from the NFTs, if any.
Former President Donald Trump teased a “BIG ANNOUNCEMENT” on Truth Social on Wednesday, saying, “America needs a superhero.”
The post was paired with a photograph of Trump with chiseled abs, decked out in a superhero costume. After declaring in November that he intended to run for president again in 2024, it was unclear what else Trump would announce.
And on Thursday, the former president unveiled the big reveal: a series of digital trading card NFTs, each selling for $99.
“This is Donald Trump, hopefully, your favorite president of all time. Better than Lincoln or Washington,” Trump said in an infomercial-style address, before detailing the project.
—Makena Kelly (@kellymakena) 15 December 2022
According to the project’s website, 45,000 cards will be made in the series, with 44,000 available for sale online. It is unclear what will happen to the other 10,000 cards. The NFTs also participate in a series of contests where they have the opportunity to dine with Trump, play golf with him and join a Mar-A-Lago group cocktail hour.
The trading cards are licensed and owned by NFT INT LLC, not Trump or the Trump Organization, and use his name, image and likeness under a paid license, the footnotes to NFT’s website state. If the NFTs sell out, the creators will make about $4.5 million — it’s unclear what Trump’s cut of sales will be, if any.
Trump’s latest venture is a continuation of two main themes of his business interests.
One is that he will continue to sell merchandise and be involved with the namesake company even as an active political candidate. Ethics experts have long raised questions about what it meant for a sitting president to be able to make money while in office. The most conspicuous example of this was the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where foreign governments spent lavishly.
The second is that Trump continues to license his name to outside businesses. Amid renewed success from his reality TV hit “The Apprentice,” Trump licensed his name to be emblazoned on buildings around the world — even when some of the local partners were considered unscrupulous. Beyond buildings, Trump also emblazoned his name on steaks, vodka and water.
Thursday’s announcement comes on the heels of recent controversy. Trump was widely criticized for having dinner with Nick Fuentes, an avowed white nationalist, and Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who had made a series of anti-Semitic comments. Senior Republicans also chastised the former president for suggesting parts of the constitution were terminated due to electoral fraud, claims that have been widely rejected.
