Donald Trump spent the week teasing a “major announcement”: the release of Trump trading cards sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Summary
Donald Trump launched a reboot of his 2024 presidential campaign this week after a rocky first month. The former president spent the week teasing a “major announcement”: the release of Trump trading cards sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
- The digital trading cards portray Trump in various costumes including a superhero, an astronaut, and a cowboy. Any money earned off the NFTs will not go to Trump’s 2024 campaign, however – the former president will pocket all the money under the terms of a licensing deal.
- 45,000 Trump NFTs were made available, retailing for $99 each. All 45,000 had sold out within a day of their release.
- The release of the NFTs comes as Trump continues to decline in Republican primary polling. Two major national polls released this week found the former president down by double-digits to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a hypothetical 2024 Republican primary.
- DeSantis led Trump 56% to 33% in a USA Today/Suffolk University survey and by a 52%-38% margin in a Wall Street Journal poll.
- As he has done before, Trump dismissed any polls showing him losing to DeSantis as “Fake Polling” and instead insisted his voters should only look at the “REAL POLLING” conducted by the pollster on his payroll showing Trump ahead of DeSantis.
- CNN argued Trump’s NFT cards came “at the worst possible moment” – after the NFT “bubble has burst.” Total NFT volume is down almost 90 percent from its January peak, aided in the collapse of the cryptocurrency market after the implosion of the crypto exchange FTX.
- The Washington Post’s art critic emphatically concluded that NFTs are “not art… unless you consider grifting an art form.” However, the critic acknowledged Trump’s art pieces use “intentionally bad imagery” to create “an ‘us-them’ dynamic” between art critics and Trump fans.
- Rolling Stone noted, “even die-hard Trump allies think his NFTs are cringe.” Steve Bannon attacked his former boss it became clear the “major announcement” was not some grand plan like Bannon hoped, but rather the latest Trump product in a long line going back to Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks.
- The Washington Examiner noted Trump marketed the trading cards of himself dressed as a billionaire superhero as a way to make Christmas “great.”
- National Review highlighted another new primary poll showing Trump down double-digits to DeSantis. In the latest Monmouth University survey, DeSantis led Trump 39 percent-26 percent, with Mike Pence earning 2 percent and Ted Cruz trailing with 1 percent.
- Breitbart reported that even as the Trump trading cards were being mocked or disparaged from all sides, the digital cards retailing for $99 each all sold out within hours of the former president’s “major announcement.”
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© Dominic Moore, 2022
