"Trump" Mobile
I don't mind the business venture; I do mind the hypocrisy
A tweet I sent in reply to Eric Trump’s announcement that the Trump family is launching (or at least licensing the family name for) a mobile phone brand unsurprisingly named Trump Mobile. Just to be clear: this is a name-licensing deal; the company does not appear to have any Trump ownership though they probably get some sort of revenue share.
Fine print at the bottom of the Trump Mobile web page:
TRUMP and the associated design are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of DTTM Operations LLC. Trump Mobile, its products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed or sold by The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals. T1 Mobile LLC uses the "Trump" name and trademark pursuant to the terms of a limited license agreement which may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.. T1 Mobile LLC uses the "Trump" name pursuant to the terms of a limited license agreement which may be terminated or revoked according to its terms. © DTTM Operations LLC
https://x.com/EricTrump/status/1934598812229660837
I get the idea that you all want to make as much money as fast as you can while your dad is still president. I don't actually care. If it's a good product/service at a good price (which doesn’t actually seem to be the case), then I hope the business succeeds regardless of your participation (which seems to be limited to selling the family name, kinda like what Hunter Biden was doing with Burisma, right?)
I mean, what you’re doing is legal, even if daddy’s involved, as far as I can tell. It’s gross, but we expect that and like most people I’m fairly numb to the never-ending grift of Trump-branded watches and sneakers and $60 bibles being sold to MAGA at 5x or 10x your cost. Actually, the phone thing might be (but probably isn’t) the first one that offers some actual value, or at least is less of a ripoff, for those who are bound and determined to give you their money, a cultish pastime that I find more than a little odd.
But one thing that really jumps out at me is your claim that the phone is built in America.
Since most or maybe all of the parts will not be made in America, that just means assembled in America. Which is fine, of course. Or maybe it doesn’t even mean that, because your comments on the phone launch seemed more like “well, theoretically we could make this kind of thing in America one day.”
Or is this some sort of weird mendacious code to try to avoid your dad’s threatened (and illegal) tariffs on smartphone producers that make products overseas?
Your dad has been punishing Canada and Mexico for providing affordable parts with which American car makers "build" vehicles in the US. Because doing it that way is the best way, and maybe the only way, to make a car that people can afford or at least one that isn't much more expensive than it needs to be.
I’m sure you know that you wouldn’t be able to sell a single phone at the price they’d cost if they were actually made in America.
Seems like Trump Mobile must, at most, be doing the exact same thing (assembling foreign parts in America), and of course that's a fine way to do it, but isn't this very much at odds with the erroneous story that your dad is telling Americans about how manufacturing supply chains should work? (And, for the record, I don’t even think you’re doing that. I think you’re buying a Chinese phone and maybe having Americans put a Trump sticker on it.)
NOTE: Recent reporting (first link below) suggests that the Trump Phone is just a phone made in China (for T-Mobile) with a different “skin” on it. Although the camera lens configuration looks slightly different, the specifications are the same. If that’s the case, the $499 Trump phone can be purchased without the Trump name for $171 on Amazon.) Again, I really don’t care where you get your phone or how much you fleece willing suckers. But I do find it more than a little annoying that you claim the phone is “built in the US” when probably under 10%, and maybe 0%, of the parts are made in the US or even in North America.
Trump Mobile's T1 is made in China
Trump’s Smartphone Can’t Be Made in America for $499 by August - WSJ
Ya, grift is as grift does…anyway I should be happy stupid MAGA will buy this phone, leaving those rubes with less money to spend and bid up the price on things I want to buy.