Phones Are the Trump Family’s Latest Grift

President Donald Trump’s family has launched yet another unscrupulous cash grab attempting to profit off the current president’s name and public image: Trump Mobile, a wireless phone service. 

If the crypto companies, branded bibles, social media platforms, colognes, sneakers, and other grifty products branded with the face of President Donald Trump weren’t enough of an indication that the Trump family is attempting to milk the presidency for every cent they can, the announcement of Trump Mobile was timed specifically to coincide with “the 10-year anniversary of their father’s launch of his historic presidential campaign,” according to a press release issued by the Trump Organization. 

The Trump Organization is currently in the custody of President Trump’s two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, whose familial ties to the president have led to a surely coincidental explosion of business under the second Trump presidency, one that tests every known ethics and anti-corruption law in the books. Trump Mobile is essentially another licensing deal, and features a disclaimer indicating that “Trump Mobile, its products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed or sold by The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals. T1 Mobile LLC uses the ‘Trump’ name and trademark pursuant to the terms of a limited license agreement which may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.”  

Trump Mobile’s initial launch features plenty of branding and special offers stacked with indirect references to President Trump without featuring an outright product endorsement by the commander in chief. 

The company will sell a golden “T1” smartphone (set to launch in August) and “the 47 plan,” a cell service plan priced at $47.45 a month – a reference to Trump’s two presidential terms. One could assume that the decision to reverse the term numbers out of the correct 45-47 order reflects the money-minded family’s desire to ensure that the nod to their patriarch nets them an extra $1.98 from their customers every month. 

So confident are the Trump’s that the president’s legions of supporters will fork over cash at any opportunity, that they didn’t even bother with producing their own images, instead using shoddily edited stock photography to fill out their website. 

“Trump Mobile is going to revolutionize cell phones,” Eric Trump told Fox Business on Monday morning. 

Given that the product is a licensing agreement covered in Trump branded gold-plating, it’s unlikely that this new venture will produce any industry-wide revolutions, except hopefully eventually a stricter revision of the nation’s anti-corruption laws.