Trump Mocked for Trading Card Announcement... But Just 12 Hours Later 45 Is the Only One Laughing
A famous print advertisement from the 1920s read, “They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano. But When I Started to Play!–“
Touted for nearly a century, that iconic ad featured a musical neophyte captivating guests at a party by playing Liebesträume by Franz Liszt. He surprised everyone and pulled it off because he had taken lessons from the ad’s sponsor, the U.S. School of Music.
Former President Donald Trump did something similar this week.
Guffaws arose when Trump hawked digital trading cards of himself in heroic poses. For only $99 each!
The scorn came from both left and right. Was Trump out of his mind?
But the laughter quickly stopped. Better than playing the piano, Trump sold out the collection of 45,000 NFTs within 12 hours, Newsweek reported. That’s a haul of $4.5 million.
It was pure schtick from The Donald, to the point where Yahoo Finance anchors Dave Briggs and Seana Smith had a hard time stifling laughter while discussing Trump’s ad for the cards.
“I apologize for the laughter,” Briggs said. “This is not about politics. That just appeared like a parody ad, but it is real.”
Smith said Trump was possibly “trying to drum up some of the attention we know he loves.”
While Briggs and Smith were bemused, Jimmy Kimmel was in his usual laser-focused anti-Trump mode. “It’s like Q-Anon meets QVC,” Kimmel said.
“By the way,” he added, “we already have Donald Trump trading cards. They’re called subpoenas!”
Trump even got some friendly fire.
“I can’t do this anymore,” former Trump strategist Steve Bannon said. “He’s one of the greatest presidents in history, but I gotta tell you, whoever — any business partner, and anybody on the comms team, and anybody in Mar-a-Lago — and I love the folks down there — but we’re at war. They ought to be fired today!”
Trump had preceded his NFT sale with a tease about an important announcement, with some speculating that he would reveal his running mate, according to CNET. But then he unveiled his trading cards.
While the hubbub was pure Trump, President Joe Biden attempted to get in on the act, tweeting that he too had “major announcements” and listing what he said were accomplishments by his administration.
I had some MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS the last couple of weeks, too…
✔️ Inflation’s easing
✔️ I just signed the Respect for Marriage Act
✔️ We brought Brittney Griner home
✔️ Gas prices are lower than a year ago
✔️ 10,000 new high-paying jobs in Arizona— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 15, 2022
But given the controversies surrounding inflation, the so-called Respect for Marriage Act, the Brittney Griner trade and Arizona, where election questions remain, Biden may need to take some advice Trump supporters often give to their guy: Please shut up.
Except this time Trump pulled a great one, a truly great one, best one you’ve ever seen. Great. Truly great. He pulled a great one.
And he didn’t even play the piano.
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