Former President Donald Trump’s “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT” landed on Thursday like the release of a new NFT—that’s because it was the release of a new NFT.
After teasing the day before on his social media site that he would have big news, Trump shared on Truth Social that he’d be releasing a set of collectible digital trading cards that all feature himself.
“My official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection is here!” the ex-president wrote. “These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career!”
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Trump, who is a year late on the boom and bust of NFTs, explained the Non-Fungible Tokens as “very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting.” NFTs—which had already come to be associated with grift even before Trump attached his name to it—have lost the vast majority of their worth as the cryptocurrency market takes a beating. (Technically, the NFT market may have precipitated crypto’s fall from the Nov. 2021 bull market.)
The Trump NFTs feature poorly imposed images of a cartoon Trump face on the bodies of figures like astronauts, fighter-pilots, and cowboys.
Each of the digital cards costs $99, and with your purchase comes a chance to win a Trumpian getaway—along with a chance to meet the former president.
A number of Trumpworld sources clearly didn’t think the Trump NFTs were a smart decision.
One Trump adviser said the NFT release was “tone deaf” while highlighting that Trump's own supporters were “blasting him."
Another Trumpworld source called the NFT project “stupid” while stating that the subsequently released policy-focused video on Thursday was a smarter use of time.
“Aren't we supposed to be running for the president right now? How does fleecing our supporters for $99 help that? None of it makes sense,” a Trumpworld source told The Daily Beast.
Likewise, MAGA pundits ripped into the Trump grift.
“We have a nation going down the toilet, and Donald Trump is selling Pokémon cards. No thanks,” Blaze TV host Chad Prather wrote. “Teasing NFT cards as a major announcement is not the kind of fight people want to see now. These are dark times. Love the guy but this turns many off,” former beloved MAGA congressional hopeful Robby Starbuck said.
And while there was blame flying around Trumpworld on Thursday over the bad idea of the cards, others insisted it was a smart move from Trump.
A source close to Trump called the digital trading cards “badass” while stating their favorite card was the boxing NFT with fire in the background.
“To me, this is another pop culture moment delivered by Donald Trump,” the source told The Daily Beast. “We’ve seen it for decades.”
