The Outsized Entrepreneurial World of Trump Merchandise
At Trump’s first rally of the year, the former President wasn’t the only person selling a fantasy.
via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-outsized-entrepreneurial-world-of-trump-merchandise
The former President made good use of the office’s opportunities for merchandising. The “SHOP” section of Trump’s Web site features hats and T-shirts, as well as stemless wineglasses, plastic straws, playing cards, and Christmas stockings emblazoned with Trump’s name. According to his former campaign manager, by spring of 2019, he’d sold nearly a million red maga hats, priced at forty-five dollars each. But the official wares are supplemented by a parallel economy of ersatz Trump-branded ephemera sold at roadside stands, state-fair booths, strip-mall stores, online marketplaces, and by a caravan of itinerant salespeople who follow him from rally to rally.