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Trump, quiet since announcing reelection bid, makes 'major announcement' to hawk trading cards of himself | TribLIVE.com
Politics Election

Trump, quiet since announcing reelection bid, makes 'major announcement' to hawk trading cards of himself

Tom Fontaine
Tom Fontaine
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AP
Former President Donald Trump smiles as he speaks at a rally, Saturday, April 9, 2022, in Selma, N.C.

Former President Donald Trump has kept a low profile since announcing last month that he’s running for president again.

That is, until Thursday.

Trump took to social media and the internet to make what he called “a major announcement.” No, it wasn’t to announce his running mate or weigh in on the race for speaker of the House.

Instead, he unveiled a new line of digital trading cards that bear his likeness and are now selling for $99 apiece, The Hill reported.

“These cards feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career. It’s been very exciting,” Trump said in a YouTube video promoting the line of cards.

Of course, many of the images shared on a card-related website and in the YouTube video are pure fantasy. They do not depict anything from his life or career.

Like the card showing Trump riding on the back of a red, white and blue elephant. Or the one where he appears to be flying into space with rockets attached to his back.

Or the one where a physically ripped Trump is shown pulling open his dress shirt to reveal a superhero costume underneath his dark suit as he shoots laser beams from his eyes.

“You can collect your Trump digital cards just like a baseball card or other collectibles,” Trump said.

These digital cards are known as NFTs (or non-fungible tokens) that are recorded on a blockchain, each with its own unique identifier that can’t be copied, according to the card-related website.

NFTs were created in 2017 as a way for artists to get paid for digital art and they boomed during the pandemic, Yahoo!Entertainment reported. For example, the digital artist Pak’s “The Merge” sold for $91.8 million a year ago, with the work divided into nearly 267,000 digital units shared by almost 29,000 buyers, Artsper Magazine reported.

Each purchase comes with a chance to win a prize, including joining Trump for dinner, a Zoom call or a one-on-one meeting or playing a round with friends at one of Trump’s golf courses. Anyone who buys at least 45 digital trading cards will get a guaranteed ticket to attend the Gala Dinner with Trump in South Florida.

The cards are randomly generated and delivered. As a result, buyers won’t know which one they’re getting until after they order. The website said the line of cards features hundreds of different images, and the number of cards in the series is limited to 45,000.

People will be limited to buying up to 100 cards apiece, the website said.

The website added that the cards are not connected with Trump’s campaign or owned, managed or controlled by any of his businesses. The company behind the cards, NFT INT LLC, uses Trump’s name, image and likeness through a paid license. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.

President Joe Biden on Thursday trolled Trump on his personal Twitter account, noting that he also “had some major announcements in the last couple of weeks,” including the easing of inflation, signing the Respect for Marriage Act, helping to bring WNBA star Brittney Griner home from a Russian penal colony and dropping gas prices.

Tom Fontaine is a TribLive deputy managing editor. A journalist in his native Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years, he joined the Trib in 2009 and has won regional, state and national awards. He can be reached at tfontaine@triblive.com.

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