Donald Trump’s merchandising operation moved into overdrive between election day and his inauguration this week as it rushed to cash in on his return to the White House, an investigation has found.
In all, 168 new products appeared for sale on trumpstore.com since November, many celebrating his election to a second term of office, according to the pro-transparency group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew).
Buying one of each item, ranging from playing cards, woolen blankets and clothesto whisky glasses, hats, teddy bears and books, would have set back a Trump supporter $13,804, the group calculated.
The president’s online store, which attracted ethics concerns when it was launched early in his first administration in 2017, is run by the Trump Organization separate from his administration, but “is quietly making Trump millions”, Crew said.
“Once again Donald Trump is demonstrating that his most consistent practice as a government official is not prioritizing the needs of the American people that have entrusted him with our highest public office, but instead finding new ways to exploit the presidency to funnel money into his businesses,” Donald Sherman, Crew’s executive director and chief counsel, told the Guardian.
Trump’s retail operation, the group says, is not subtle about what it is selling: “It’s anything and everything President Trump.”
Trump’s signature Make America Great Again hats dominate the store’s landing page, Crew said, a departure from his first term when campaign-related merchandise was not promoted to maintain separation between the Trump Organization and his political operation.
Most of the new items are contained in three specific collections, the Trump 45 Collection, the 45-47 collection, and the Trump inauguration collection. The store hosts 78 products, valued at $8,180, that explicitly allude to Trump’s second presidency, Crew’s analysis found.
On inauguration day on Monday, the site listed 1,725 different Trump-themed products on the site, with a number of items out of stock. One of each in-stock item would have cost a supporter $36,274, the haul including a $200 Maga “victory blanket”, a $30 inauguration seal coffee mug, a $550 “Trump 45-47” Bling Clutch; and sets of two engraved beer, wine or whisky glasses at $47 each.
Clothing includes 45-47 zip jackets at $225, hoodies for $115, and beanie hats for $35.
Some items which have become synonymous with Trump, however, are not listed on the site, including his “blasphemous and disgusting” Bible, and $100,000 18-karat gold watch, once described as his “tackiest, most extortionate merchandise yet”.
Crew notes that Trump’s profits from the online store, which it says recorded more than $3m in sales in 2023, are “like a drop in the bucket” compared with other pre-inauguration ventures, such as his sale last week of a new cryptocurrency that netted him billions and prompted more accusations of corruption.
But the operation has been an integral and stable part of the Trump “grift” since he first ran for office and, Crew says, foreshadows how his store will seek to profit from his second term.
“It’s not normal for a president to profit off of the presidency but Trump has done so blatantly before and even more unabashedly this time,” the group said on its website.
“The Trump Organization may have announced an ethics pledge that detaches Trump from the store’s day-to-day management, but that doesn’t change the fact that the store’s profit model is directly tied to Trump’s political life and at the end of the day, will still put money in Trump’s pockets.”
Trump Org did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
