There was an impressive ceremony in Paris on Saturday marking the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, and some prominent Americans were in attendance. First lady Jill Biden was there, for example, and she was seated near Donald Trump, who was making his first overseas trip since becoming president-elect.
This wouldn’t be especially notable were it not for the fact that the Republican quickly put an image from the event to unusual use. USA Today reported:
Get a whiff of this: For $199, you can smell the sweet scent of victory. And who can resist that? Not even your enemies, according to President-elect Donald Trump, who is hawking his “Fight Fight Fight” line of men’s and women’s fragrances. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump shared a picture of himself having a pleasant exchange with first lady Jill Biden with a tongue-in-cheek caption: “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist.”
On Friday, the president-elect used his social media platform to tout the Trump-branded perfumes and colognes, and directed supporters to a sales website. “I call them Fight, Fight, Fight, because they represent us WINNING,” the Republican wrote, referring to the fragrances. “Great Christmas gifts for the family.”
It was two days later, however, when Trump published a follow-up item featuring an image of the president-elect and the incumbent first lady, alongside “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist” text.
It’s unclear whether Dr. Biden approved of her image being used in the Republican’s commercial enterprise, though I have a hunch I know the answer to that question.
But while that seems like a relevant detail, it’s also worth pausing to appreciate the larger context: Americans have never seen a president-elect sell so much branded merchandise.
To be sure, the Republican is no stranger to selling stuff. Indeed, as regular readers know, one of the many strange things about Trump’s 2024 campaign was the frequency with which the Republican would unveil new branded merchandise that had nothing to do with his candidacy. In fact, the list of side-deals became a running joke: The GOP nominee pitched everything from Trump-branded watches to silver Trump commemorative coins, batches of digital trading cards to a weird cryptocurrency project, gold sneakers to Trump-endorsed Bibles.
But at the time, it seemed plausible to think that he was trying to cash in while he had the chance: There was a possibility that Trump, already cash strapped, might lose the election, limiting his money-making opportunities.
Now that Election Day has come and gone, it stands to reason that his sole focus would be on his return to the White House, not merchandising. And yet, here we are. On Friday, a half-hour after encouraging supporters to buy Trump-branded fragrances, the Republican also published an item encouraging supporters to buy Trump-branded watches. (The most expensive of the timepieces cost $100,000.) And did I mention the Trump-branded guitars? Because they became available after Election Day, too. There’s no modern precedent for anything like this, and it renews questions about the president-elect’s controversial personal finances and the motivation behind the schemes.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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