Donald Trump’s latest campaign stunt was selling non-fungible token (NFT) “trading cards” of himself. Prices of the cards rose from $99 into the thousands of dollars before selling out completely early Friday morning as supporters flocked to the site.
“Don’t Wait. They will be gone, I believe, very quickly!” Trump posted on Truth Social at the time of the release.
Trump’s “major” announcement came on Thursday when he released limited edition virtual trading cards, which he likened to baseball cards.
The trading cards, which were licensed and owned by NFT INT LLC, not Trump or the Trump Organization, featured images Trump says pertain to his own life, showing him as a racecar driver, astronaut, boxer, sheriff, and elephant rider.
One card featuring Trump holding the Statue of Liberty’s torch, was selling for nearly $24,000, according to Open Sea. The entire collection has brought in over $1 million, according to reporting by Coin Desk, which will go directly to Trump, rather than his presidential campaign.
There were 45,000 digital cards created and prepped for sale on their website. Buyers were entered into a sweepstakes at the time of purchase where they could win “priceless” prizes, including a dinner with Trump in Miami, a group cocktail hour at Mar-A-Lago, a one-on-one meeting with the 45th president, a game of golf with Trump and friends, Zoom sessions, and signed memorabilia.
Winners of the prizes are responsible for covering their own traveling and lodging costs, according to the project’s website. The fine print also states that there is no purchase necessary to enter.
The cards were criticized even by some of Trump’s fiercest defenders. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who featured right-wing commentators Sebastian Gorka and Steve Cotes on his “War Room” show Thursday, said Trump may be “one of the greatest presidents ever,” but the person who came up with the idea “ought to be fired today.”
“The president should not be involved with this,” Gorka said agreeing with Bannon. “Whoever wrote that pitch should be fired and should never be involved.”
Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor to Trump, also said on the “Prophets and Patriots” radio show Thursday, that Trump should fire whoever advised him on this “immediately.”
The original profit estimate for the creators of the NFTs was around $4.5 million and it is still unclear as to whether Trump will be receiving any sales profits.
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