Former President Donald Trump teased a big announcement on Truth Social that, when revealed, was highly disappointing to a large percentage of his followers. A teaser trailer first appeared on Trump’s social media platform called Truth Social. In the trailer, he said: “America needs a superhero”. This was followed up by an animated version of Trump shooting lasers out of his eyes with a backdrop of Trump Tower. The following day, a similar graphic was used in a commercial where Trump revealed the big announcement… Trump NFTs. NFT is short for “Non-Fungible Token” and, in layman’s terms, refers to digital artwork that has value somewhat akin to cryptocurrency. There were only 45,000 of these Trump NFTs for sale for $99 each and they sold out in a matter of hours. This equates to about $4.5 million in revenue.
The problem with the NFT reveal is that many people expected more. The teaser trailer left some room for interpretation. Some people imagined that Trump would reveal his 2024 running mate or that he would make a triumphant return to Twitter. Of course, none of those things happened. Some people think that the NFT money will go to his campaign. Also not true. Trump was simply a paid spokesman who licensed his image to a private company. Language on the website Trump promoted expressly states that they are not affiliated with the Trump campaign.
The NFT website was not the only thing that Trump released on Thursday, December 15th of 2022. He also released a nearly seven-minute video about a Digital Bill of Rights. This is essentially a campaign promise of things he would sign into law upon the first day of his inauguration if elected again in 2024. His son, Donald Trump Jr., released a text list of bullet-points from the video. Many people point to the NFT as a distraction to get media attention which would pivot onto the digital bill of rights.
SOURCES:
FULL Digital Free Speech Video @realDonaldTrump’s post | Truth Social
CollectTrumpCards | Donald Trump Digital Trading Card NFTs
Donald Trump’s NFT Sale Is the Weirdest Thing on Social Media Today – Mother Jones
Baked Alaska: ‘Can’t Believe I’m Going to Jail for an Nft Salesman’
Kimmel on Trump’s trading cards: ‘We already have them – they’re called subpoenas’ | Late-night TV roundup | The Guardian
Trump’s NFT trading card collection draws ridicule, sells out
Trump Sells $99 NFT Trading Cards of Himself, Confusing Allies – The New York Times
