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Today’s edition shows just how much money President Donald Trump has made off the various grifts and cheap products that factored so prominently into his corruption and self-enrichment during the 2024 election cycle, and that he’s maintained even during his second turn in the White House. We’ve also got some big news on the Big Beautiful front: The Senate parliamentarian disqualified many proposed cuts from the Republican budget plan under the Byrd Rule. I’ll give you a sense for what next steps may look like if lawmakers still want to pass the bill before the holiday. Lastly, you’re probably not as offline as Paul Krugman. (But perhaps you should be.) All that and more, below.
Trump’s Grifts Have Paid Off Bigly
Plus: Senate parliamentarian rips up a chunk of the GOP’s Big Beautiful Bill.
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Con heir
A prominent theme of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign was his return to form as a salesman hawking flashy, cheaply made products to fans of his brand. Trump lent his name and likeness to watches, sneakers, fragrances, and guitars, and he even collaborated on a promotional campaign for “patriotic” Bibles.
Now that his first financial disclosure as our 47th president is on the books, we can see just how much he took home from these schemes. Trump’s accounting of his personal profits from these products also provided an opportunity to take a trip down memory lane to visit some of The Bulwark’s strangest pieces from the past election cycle—moments that made some of us feel as though we had accidentally wandered into a bizarro political QVC.
We’ll start with my favorite among the categories of Trump’s grift: His sneakers (in combination with fragrances¹) netted the president a cool $2.5 million. The Trump sneakers launched in February 2024 with a shiny signature edition, and they were immediately panned by the sneaker-loving community both for their obvious cheapness and outdated designs. But they weren’t built for avid sneaker enthusiasts—they were built to appeal to the wealthier parts of Trump’s political base, who in many cases don’t care to know much about what they’re buying beyond the name on the box. I saw quite a few of these sneakers on the campaign trail throughout 2024, but almost every wearer I encountered admitted they were wearing knockoffs...
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