With President Donald Trump continuing to tease the idea of seeking a third term in the White House, which is unconstitutional, the Trump Organization is selling “Trump 2028” merchandise to supporters.
The company lists at least two “Trump 2028” products on its online store, including a red hat for $50 and a $36 T-shirt that also says “Rewrite the Rules” — presumably in reference to the U.S. Constitution.
The Trump Organization has long capitalized on his supporters’ appetite for merchandise, but the latest products suggest a blatant attempt to profit off of knowingly unconstitutional talk about the president serving a third term in office. When asked about the products, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred NBC News to the Trump Organization, though she said “it’s a cool hat and I suspect it will be highly popular!”
Trump has refused to definitively rule out an attempt to serve a third term as president. He has suggested that he is seriously considering it, telling NBC News last month that there are “methods” that would allow him to do so. Yet this week, he told Time magazine that there are “loopholes” that would allow him to seek the presidency again, but that he does not “believe in” using them.
Whether or not he would actually go to such lengths to challenge the Constitution, Trump’s interest in keeping up the public discourse around the controversy is self-evident — and serves as yet another opportunity for his company to make money from his political loyalists.
Trump’s two elder sons have taken over management of the Trump Organization since he first entered the White House in 2017, and the company said in January of this year that the president would not be involved in day-to-day operations and that it would abstain from new dealings with foreign governments during his time in office. Nevertheless, the Trump Organization and his other business ventures — which have expanded greatly since his first term in office — have profited handsomely from his success in politics, raising a veritable parade of red flags among ethics experts.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for MSNBC Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
