In the months leading up to Election Day 2024, when Donald Trump was ostensibly focused on his candidacy, the Republican launched a dizzying merchandising campaign, pitching 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.
Even after the president won a second term, the efforts have continued with, among other things, Trump-branded guitars — all of which have proved to be quite lucrative for him, according to Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure statement.
As for those consumers who’ve already stocked up on all kinds of Trump-branded items, but who are still asking, “Where’s my Trump phone?” I have some good news. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump’s business organization has announced the creation of a new wireless phone service that will carry the president’s name. Trump Mobile, as the service will be known, will soon be available for what Donald Trump Jr. described as ‘real Americans’ seeking ‘true value from their mobile carriers.’
The wireless service plan will apparently start at $47.45 a month — which might sound like an odd number, but the incumbent Republican is the nation’s 47th and 45th president.
Back in 2012, GOP officials became quite worked up about “Obamaphone” allegations that proved to be ridiculously untrue. But while claims about Obama phones were baseless, 13 years later, Trump phones will apparently be a real thing.
Indeed, according to the president’s oldest sons, a $499 phone, dubbed the T1, will be available later this year. It will be, you guessed it, gold-colored.
NBC News’ report added, “The service and phone are not actually made by the Trump Organization. Rather, the company is licensing the president’s name to a separate, unnamed wireless carrier.” This is, of course, how the president’s business tends to operate: The Trump Organization didn’t make guitars, watches or sneakers, either; it just entered into licensing deals.
Among the many questions is where the phones will be made, and with this in mind, Eric Trump declared as part of the rollout that “eventually” the products could be manufactured in the United States. How long that will take — and whether Trump will impose tariffs on his own products in the meantime — remains to be seen.
But let’s also not forget that this new venture won’t be the first time the Trump Organization has ventured into this space. Remember this Washington Post report from nearly seven years ago? Four anonymous plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against President Trump, his business and his three eldest children in federal court Monday, alleging that the Trumps helped promote fraudulent investments that duped investors. At issue are promotional spots and speeches that Trump made on behalf of marketing company ACN, also known as American Communications Network, which charged $499 for the chance to sell video phones licensed by the company, and sometimes extracted thousands of dollars later to have a chance of recouping the money. Trump ultimately made three speeches for ACN, receiving $450,000 for each, and told potential investors in marketing videos that the opportunity came “without any of the risks most entrepreneurs have to take” and that his endorsement was “not for any money.” The folks who filed the lawsuit claimed the entire gambit was a fraud, though a federal judge last year rejected the case, concluding that it would be better pursued in a different venue. Now, evidently, the Trump Organization has decided to jump back into related waters.
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."
Latest Post
Recommended
