Amid the documents released by the January 6th committee comes this gem: that Trump was concerned with trademarking the phrase “Rigged Election!” right after the 2020 election (Trump wanted to trademark ‘Rigged Election!’ and other key findings from the Jan. 6 panel’s latest release).
On November 9, 2020, then-Trump aide Dan Scavino emailed Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, with the request from Trump.
“Hey Jared! POTUS wants to trademark/own rights to below, I don’t know who to see – or ask…I don’t know who to take to,” the email from Scavino reads, according to a transcript of Kushner’s testimony to the committee, which was released by the panel on Friday.
Two phrases were bolded in the email: “Save America PAC!” and “Rigged Election!”
I will readily allow that in the reams of information about very serious matters this is a minor blip and in most ways is of little consequence. But by the same token, it is a disturbing insight into the petty grift machine that is the former president’s brain.
I suppose on one level it is a testament to his weird genius for exploiting his customers, but it is about as far away from an appropriate presidential impulse as one can get.
The reason you trademark something is to protect the ability to make sales using a given phrase. Because, you know, if you are the President of the United States and you think that an election was stolen, one of your first moves would be to figure out the merchandising angle. Although more likely than not, he didn’t care about the veracity of any of his claims and he simply was thinking about how to make a buck.
Of the reason that I objected to Trump as a candidate and as president is that he is clearly unsuited for the job in fundamental ways. He is simply not a serious person.
A serious person, when faced with the belief that an American presidential election was stolen, does not start thinking about hat, t-shirt, and bumper sticker sales.
There is also a profound stupidity in all of this. If, in fact, the election was stolen, then the US was facing a truly terrifying authoritarian turn. As such, he really needed to be a bit more fearful of his legal status, what with the incoming regime clearly having vast powers to manipulate outcomes in a truly impressive fashion.
Or, if he knew it was all, to quote the former Attorney General, “bullshit” then he really had no concept or care about what such claims could do to the body politic. It is governing malpractice on a massive scale. And hey, if he could sell a new line of merch, so much the better!
It is worth noting, too, that the people he wanted to fleece with “Rigged Election!” gear were his base. You know, people who need an alternative to their MAGA hat. It is continually obvious how the whole thing was a grift.
