A variety of political writers tend to have something else they focus on, separate from political news. Jamelle Bouie, for example, is interested in photography. Political scientist Dan Drezner routinely covers science fiction. NBC News’ Sahil Kapur is both a senior national political reporter and a part-time correspondent for Formula 1 racing.
What about me? I care about guitars. In fact, I’ve been playing guitar for decades. Mom bought me my first guitar at a flea market when I was just nine, and it’s been an important part of my life. Many readers might find that surprising because I’ve never had a reason to mention it, since there’s rarely overlap between guitar-related news and the day-to-day political news that I cover for a living.
That is, until now. Billboard magazine reported:
Guitar manufacturer Gibson has issued a cease-and-desist against the branding agency behind a line of guitars endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump, alleging the design infringes the company’s trademarks, Billboard has confirmed. The cease-and-desist against 16 Creative alleges the guitar line infringes on its trademark for the “iconic Les Paul body shape,” a Gibson spokesperson tells Billboard.
If this story is unfamiliar to you, let’s back up and review how we arrived at this point.
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.
Those assuming that the president-elect would stop doing this after the election were quickly proven wrong. Last week, Trump published an item to his social media platform letting would-be customers know about the “Limited Edition ‘45’ Guitar,” complete with an “Make America Great Again” pearl inlay on the fretboard.
While the prices vary, the listings at GetTrumpGuitars.com show that the most expensive model was selling for $11,500.
There’s certainly room for conversation about whether these guitars are worth the price. Similar instruments are available for far less, though they won’t have Trump’s endorsement — but that’s not the first question that came to mind when he started pitching these products.
Rather, the obvious concern was that the Trump-backed electric guitar looks indistinguishable from a Gibson Les Paul, complete with the standard humbucker pickups. It was hard not to wonder whether Gibson’s legal team might have some questions along these lines. And as it turns out, the legendary guitar manufacturer’s attorneys apparently noticed the GetTrumpGuitars.com sales and took a keen interest. While MSNBC and NBC News have not independently confirmed Billboard magazine’s reporting, Gibson’s representatives have confirmed to a variety of outlets that the company has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company pitching the Trump-backed instruments. This shouldn’t have come as too big of a surprise to the president-elect’s business partners. As Guitar World magazine explained last week, “In recent years, Gibson has staunchly defended its intellectual property. … As a result, questions quickly arose from guitarists as to how the firm will react to Trump Guitars’ offerings, given the potential political implications if it were to take legal action.” I won’t pretend to know what might happen next. Will there be litigation? Will Trump start threatening Gibson? Will the company selling the instruments back down? Will Gibson face some kind of MAGA backlash? Watch this space.
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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