For all the brilliant investigative reporting about Trump done by my friends in the mainstream (liberal) media, leave it to The Wall Street Journal, a media property owned by Fox, to explain what the pronouncements about a ‘rigged’ election are really all about. You can download the article right here. [Thanks Paula.]
What Trump’s Presidency has been from even before he started his 2016 campaign was and remains an effort to build yet another brand, in this case, the MAGA brand that he can now use to sell all kinds of crap as well as to license the trademarked MAGA brand to anyone else who wants to use it to make a quick buck.
When did Trump copyright MAGA? His application was filed with the Patent and Trademark office in – ready? – 2013 and was approved on July 14, 2015. Exactly one month earlier on June 16, Trump publicly announced his 2016 Presidential campaign. And you think he started giving away those hats with the disgusting MAGA lettering for free?
What other Presidential candidate has ever created a logo that didn’t along with his or her name? Here’s the official Hillary campaign logo from 2016:
Here’s the logo from Joe and Kammie’s current campaign. Wow! A logo like this will surely sell a lot of perfume, right?
Remember the big, raucous, and energetic rallies that Bernie held in 2019? I recall a rally he held in New York City after he recovered from a heart attack. It was called the ‘Bernie is Back’ rally and the crowd was enormous – probably more than 25,000 showed up to help Bernie restart his campaign. Here’s Bernie’s campaign logo which would make a really great design for a line of clothing or maybe some gluten-free snacks:
Notice the difference between these logos and the Trump MAGA brand:
Notice whose name isn’t on the Trump logo. But Trump owns the logo so he owns the brand. And even when just of a few of his diehard supporters show up on a street corner waving their signs about the ‘rigged’ election, they’re wearing the MAGA hats, waving the MAGA banners, buying the brand.
When all is said and done, what Trump really looks at every day isn’t the alt-right websites or the Fox talking heads. It’s his website where he sells the MAGA crap and I guarantee you that he will introduce other product lines as soon as his legal challenges to the 2020 election come to an end.
One of the things that folks love to collect are posters, buttons, and other crap from political campaigns. Want to buy a JFK poster from his 1960 campaign? You can get an allegedly original poster for the measly price of $595 bucks. On the other hand, that same website is selling Trump campaign posters for $2.95. Obviously, there’s room for the Trump election memorabilia market to expand.
But the whole point about MAGA is that it isn’t a slogan based on a specific political campaign. It’s a brand and a name that can stand on its own if it’s promoted for the kinds of products that can be linked in some way to Trump. One product he might roll out is a line of self-defense ammunition. After all, Trump could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue, gun someone down and he’d still be elected President. Or maybe what he should sell is a Nazi flag with an inscription that reads, “there are good people on both sides.”
All hyperbole aside, the fact is that we have never had a President who was so blatant about using hi political authority to line the pockets of his pants. Download the WSJ article here and you’ll notice how so much of the revenue at various Trump locations came from GOP groups who held events at Trump hotels. When did this revenue increase? During the 2016 and 2020 campaigns. Gee, what a surprise.
Trump isn’t resisting a transition to Biden because he believes there’s any chance that he’ll be sworn in again as President on January 20, 2021. He’s challenging the inevitable because his behavior promotes his name and his brand. Which is what his entire Administration was all about.
I only wish my friends in the liberal media would figure this one out.
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