On Wednesday, December 14, Trump issued this announcement about a really big event coming on Thursday, December 15.
The news media — including Fox — either ignored him or joked about the announcement, further proof that no one gives a shit about Trump.
HERE IT IS!! HERE’S TRUMP’S MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!
Donald Trump’s much-hyped “major announcement” turned out to be, in the words of “A Christmas Story’s” Ralphie Parker, a crummy commercial.
The former president teased the announcement Wednesday by saying “America needs a superhero,” with a video of himself ripping open his shirt to reveal a Superman-style costume and shooting laser beams from his eyes, but the announcement turned out to be a promo for digital trading cards.
“MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! My official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection is here!” the ex-president posted on his Truth Social account. “These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career! Collect all of your favorite Trump Digital Trading Cards, very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting. Go to collecttrumpcards.com/ & GET YOUR CARDS NOW! Only $99 each!”
“Would make a great Christmas gift,” Trump added. “Don’t Wait. They will be gone, I believe, very quickly!”
Buyers are automatically entered in a sweepstakes to win prizes, including dinner with Trump in Miami, an invitation to a Mar-a-Lago cocktail hour, golf with Trump and the winner’s friends, and a Zoom call with the former president.
This is interesting — buried deep in the small print that no ones reads is this statement:
By participating in the Sweepstakes, Entrant authorizes the Sponsor to collect, use, process, transfer and store all data provided by entrant, including without limitation, personal data, in the United States, or any location(s) throughout the world that the Sponsor deems necessary, whether within Entrant’s country of residence or elsewhere, and with such party(ies) as the Sponsor deems appropriate, for purposes of administration of the Sweepstakes.
So — if you buy even one Trump Digital Trading Card, he has your personal data — name, address, phone, email address, AND CREDIT CARD NUMBER — which he can use as he pleases — such as, to charge a monthly donation to Trump from your credit card.
These “trading cards” are digital — that is, if you buy any, you will receive a computer file that you open and print.
Also notice that these things are sold as NFTs — NFTs (non-fungible tokens) — a form of cryptocurrency. In other words, a SCAM.
The news media was right to ignore him — just another scam
Here’s another take on the latest Trump scam.
UPDATE!! UPDATE!!
Turns out, the company that is selling these “digital trading cards” has the same mailing address as . . . Trump’s Florida golf club!! Imagine that!!
On Thursday, after teasing a massive announcement the day before, former President Donald Trump unveiled a series of $99 “trading card” nonfungible tokens, or NFTs — images of himself backed by cryptocurrency technology.
The announcement was widely mocked — however, one slightly less discussed detail is the nature of the company making the cards.
It isn’t Trump’s campaign, nor is it the Trump Organization. Rather, it is a mysterious entity known as CIC Ventures, which, according to Ken Bensington of The New York Times, has a lot of overlap with Trump.
“The company that licensed Trump’s image and likeness for the $99 NFT trading cards appears to be one founded in 2021 by former Trump advisor Nick Luna and current Trump lawyer John Marion,” wrote Bensington on Twitter. “Its mailing address is the same as the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.”
“Little is known about CIC, but a little digging shows that a manila folder seized from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI in August was marked ‘Serio Contract’ and contained a contract with CIC Ventures and Gold Ventures, per a federal court filing,” Bensington continued.
Even some Trump supporters grumbled about the NFT announcement, complaining that the cards on offer were “worthless” and a “scam.”
This comes as Trump has suffered setbacks with his 2024 campaign launch, with some polls indicating he is losing the lead among the Republican base to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — which Trump took to his Truth Social platform to rail against this week.
UPDATE 2!!!
And soon parodies of the “Trump Trading Cards” appeared.