Trump hawking NFT digital trading cards is tragically on brand
Sometimes one has to sit back and appreciate former President Donald Trump’s steadfast resistance to change. This is a man who has allowed nothing—not repeated bankruptcies, not two divorces, not even the presidency itself—to change who he is as a person. Trump’s commitment to his core self was again on display Wednesday when he teased a “big announcement” on Truth Social, the right-wing social media app he owns.
The catchphrase of his tease — “America needs a superhero” — certainly got it the folks at Truth Social are buzzing. My favorite theory that bounced around: a possible challenge to rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to become the new speaker of the House. (Did I think that would be the case? No. Was I excited for the chance to write about how few requirements there are to be speaker? Yes.) But Thursday morning’s revelation was much, much more in line with the Trump we would have recognized in 2015, before his improbable campaign changed American politics.
This is a man who has allowed nothing—not repeated bankruptcies, not two divorces, not even the presidency itself—to change who he is as a person.
Instead of something remotely involving the government, we got the premiere of the “Official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card Collection.” That’s right, Trump has decided now is the perfect time to slap his name and image on a set of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Trump declared proudly that the digital art was “very similar to a baseball card, but hopefully a lot more exciting,” which I’m relatively sure is word for word how the idea was explained to him.
But don’t take it from me. Let the master salesman himself give you his two-minute pitch on why you should spend $99 each on these digital photos of him as every role in the Village People and a little more:
To some observers, like my MSNBC colleague Steve Benen, this is a puzzling choice for someone who is theoretically running for president. Yes, it’s true that his 2024 campaign has somehow been even more jealous than his first run – not exactly a promising sign for his supporters. But for me, this latest grab is a window into an alternate universe. These NFTs, in all their wretched glory, represent Trump as he would have been had he never won the White House in 2016.
While he started out as a humble real estate heir, Trump has made quite a bit of money over the years monetizing his brand in licensing deals. While the ill-fated Trump steaks were clearly the first (and best) example to pop up, I’d actually forgotten how much thing Trump made his name over the years: Trump menswear! Trump coffee pads! Trump mattresses! Trump lamps and wall lamps! And much more! There was even briefly Trump Ice Water. There’s a reason I was sure for a moment that Trump Knives were a real thing he was selling. (They weren’t — there was a 2016 segment on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with Will Ferrell and Ryan Gosling.)
There was also his practice of slapping his name on real estate projects where he had no actual investments, including some that would fail. And that’s why it makes perfect sense that he made this deal with NFT INT LLC, the makers of these horrors. According to the website that trades this climate-warming, carbon-emitting waste, none of the funds from the sale go to the Trump campaign.
And again, for Trump, this is totally on brand, if you’ll excuse the pun. So what that bottom fell out of the NFT market months ago? So what if the products themselves are objectively worse than even the most incompetent art-stealing AI could cobble together? So what if even the folks at the Trump-centric Reddit spinoff Patriots.Win couldn’t believe what they were seeing? None of that matters to Donald Trump, who once had his name on both a vodka and a cologne.
It was reported years ago that Trump’s 2016 run was potentially a branding exercise that went horribly right. He then spent the next four years destroying the longevity of his own brand and the Republican Party with it. That’s why this latest move, in my view, is a regression to the norm for Trump after years of having to pretend he wanted to be president.
This is the Trump we would be dealing with had “The Apprentice” been a flop or had he never entered the race in 2015. We might not know his feelings on immigrants or his authoritarian streak or the danger he poses to democracy as a whole. We only know him as the guy who tells us that applying a C-note to a poorly rendered JPG of him in a Santa costume makes for a great Christmas present.
