Are Trump NFT Trading Cards Using Stolen Copyrighted Images?

Donald Trump borrowed his famous campaign slogans “America First” and “Make America Great Again” from much older political movements. An entire paragraph from his wife Melania’s 2016 Republican National Convention speech was lifted from Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech. The Trumps celebrated his inauguration by eating a plagiarized cake. Trump’s picture book after the presidential election, Our journey togethercontains no photo credit, and he allegedly blocked a book project from his chief White House photographer so he could use her work and keep all the profits.

So when Trump released a collection of $99 NFT trading cards last week, there were quite a few reasons to be suspicious that the images Trump described as “amazing ART in my life and career!” were not entirely original. And sure enough, online pundits quickly noticed that the 45,000 NFT collection – which quickly sold out – appears to contain copyrighted and unattributed images from various sources around the internet.

Journalist Matthew Sheffield from The Young Turks was one of the first to flag quirks in the Trump illustrations (beyond the fact that they depict Trump engaging in adventurous activities he never attempted in his actual life and career). For example, at least three of the cards suggest Trump shops at Amazon, DNW Outdoors and Men’s Wearhouse:

Another is strikingly similar to photographer Benedict Redgrove’s image of a prototype NASA spacesuit, which was published by The cable.

And, somewhat surprisingly, it looks like the illustration of Trump as a fighter pilot was adapted from a Shutterstock image, not a still from Top Gun: Maverick.

Another Twitter user noted that the card showing Trump golfing looks particularly realistic because it is a modified Reuters photo.

Others discovered watermarks from Shutterstock and Adobe that were not completely removed from the illustrations:

The CollectTrumpCards.com FAQ states that the images were designed by illustrator Clark Mitchell, who has worked with many major brands:

Award-winning illustrator Clark Mitchell designed the beautiful images for the Trump Digital Trading Cards. With over 40 years of digital illustration and design, Clark has built an unparalleled career. He has prominent working relationships with brands such as Star WarsHasbro, Mattel, Marvel, Time Magazine, Coors, Budweiser, Disney, Corona and Coca-Cola. His journey has also taken him into the sports and entertainment fields designing for the NBA, NFL, MLB, movies, musicians, professional athletes and more.

Artnet reported that Mitchell has “become something of a favorite for celebrity NFT projects.” His illustration of R&B singer Ginuwine opening his shirt to reveal a Superman costume, which bears some resemblance to one of the Trump NFT designs, was removed from Mitchell’s Instagram and Twitter after the former president’s NFT collection was published on December 15 .

At the time of writing, Mitchell has not responded to questions about the allegations that copyrighted images were used in the Trump card designs. Nor has NFT INT LLC, the company behind Trump’s NFT venture, which operates out of a mailbox at a UPS store in a Park City, Utah, strip mall, according to an unresolved Salt Lake Tribune investigation.

Perhaps we will learn that all the images used in Trump’s NFT collection were properly licensed. But the Trump mysteries really never end.