They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Rarely is that more true than here.
This was the “major announcement” of a putative candidate for president, that he was selling NFTs of his thin and manly fantasy self. Was this his way of demonstrating his self-loathing or just another grift to see how stupid his followers were, whether they would spend good money to buy the Trump version of the Barbie Dream House?
When Donald Trump teased a “major announcement” Wednesday, the MAGA boards went crazy with speculation. He’s going to be the next speaker of the House! He’s enlisted Ron DeSantis to be his vice presidential candidate! He’s finally found that voter fraud he’s been promising for two years!
But no, it was a digital card collection of Trump dressed up like a superhero. In other words, another money grab.
Another? Indeed.
He raised nearly $100 million promising to “stop the steal” and spent almost none of it on lawsuits or inquiries related to 2020 — because he knew, despite his rhetoric, that there was no steal. He sent emails about how important the midterms were, then banked most of what he raised for his endorsed candidates. These war chests pay for the salaries of families and allies, private jets, expenses — and get funneled into Trump’s other companies through hotel bills, consulting and fees.
For some time, I’ve been saying that Trump has two, and only two, motivations, self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. But even so, this takes his delusion to a new depth, one wrapping up so many of his failings in what may be the singularly most absurd thing Trump has ever done. And in the case of a guy who announced he was a “stable genius,” smarter than the generals, et al., and recited five words to prove his sanity, that’s not easy to do.
According to the site where he’s hawking the NFTs with the inducement of maybe winning a round of golf with him, these NFTs, at a price of $99 per “trading card” with a “strict maximum limit of 100” per person, are “sold out.” Oh?
Remember Trump steaks? Trump ties? Trump University? Even casinos, the one business in which it’s nearly impossible to fail, he failed. But this plumbs new depths on lunacy atop failure. If you somehow talked yourself out of realizing this before, can you do so again? The New York Post can’t.
Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us 1,438 times, and it may finally be too much.
So what compelled Trump to do something so stunningly awful that denying his lunacy is impossible to any modestly sentient human being? Is he nuts or broke? Why not both?