The end can’t come soon enough
If you want a sense of just how desperate the Trump campaign has become, you need only look at what has been going on lately with the official Trump campaign store. In just the past couple of months, the “Donald J. Trump Store” has morphed from a standard candidate promo shop into a bizarre troll factory.
In July, the Trump campaign store began to sell red plastic straws with Trump’s signature on them, available in packs of 10 for $15 each. The straws were included to make fun of the efforts of many cities and companies that recently limited or barred single-use plastic straws because of their harm to marine life. In case there was any doubt about the reason behind this unusual product, the description makes it clear: “Liberal paper straws don’t work. STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP and buy your pack of recyclable straws today.” Although these Trump straws are plastic and not paper, they are at least reusable, which makes the coherence of the Trump campaign’s trolling efforts against people who respect the environment particularly odd.
Capping off a week of Sharpiegate, the Trump campaign has now careened off the rails again by adding “official Trump markers” to the store, in another move that they apparently determined is brilliant and funny. Campaign chair Brad Parscale announced the new product launch yesterday by tweeting that this marker “has the special ability to drive @CNN and the rest of the fake news crazy!” The product description itself implores us to use the Trump markers to “[s]et the record straight!” Ironically, the markers, which sell in sets of five for $15, promise to be “non-toxic,” quite unlike everything else about the Trump campaign.
The Trump campaign store has lost its way and become a pitiful reflection of the raving baby whom it worships. As Donald Trump continues bumbling down the path of crazy, his store now appears to follow in lock step. We have reached a point where Trump is grasping at straws—both figuratively and literally—as he realizes that America isn’t buying into his lies, gaslighting, and confusion in the way he expected. It feels more and more as if it is only a matter of time until Trump, his store, his ties, his steaks, and everything else connected to him falls into an abyss. That day cannot come soon enough.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month