It is hard for me to fathom. When did the White House and all the honor that goes with it become insufficient? Why would a President be selling things using his historic title and its symbolism conferred by the voters?
In case you are unaware of President Trump’s merchandising job, please take a look: https://gettrumpfragrances.com/. Or go further and check out his offerings on Amazon. Artificial intelligence reports that he has 54 offers of branded products for sale.
And let me recall as prologue the 33rd President Harry Truman who left the White House in 1953 for his family home in Independence, Missouri. The home was his principal asset. Trump, in contrast, was said by Forbes to be worth approximately seven billion dollars in 2024.
Truman, after leaving the White House, was offered high-paying corporate board positions among other ways to increase his wealth. History recalls his response:
“You don’t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale,”
Yep, that is a long time ago. But isn’t that where humanity goes to discover the base-line of morality? And if that is too big a word, what about honor? Or decency? Should we worry that generations following ours will regard service as one more financial transaction?
Going back a much shorter time recall Colonel (honorific) Tom Parker who managed Elvis Presley and then marketed him after his death. He even sold “I Hate Elvis” pins to profit from both sides.
I think Trump’s merchandising activity should be put to a vote to test the question—see if the people (voters) support the exploitation of the revered White House symbolism. An up or down vote on a resolution. We want a sense of the Congress as the public’s representatives.
The resolution, if it is kept simple, might be: “We, in the 119th United States Congress, knowing of the merchandising of the White House and its principal occupant, state our disapproval.” (Examples follow).
Now I know the language is sparse so undoubtedly drafts will replace drafts and maybe draw in President Donald J Trump’s wordsmiths. Almost regardless of the eventual outcome, Members of Congress will have to go on record. The President’s heretical departure from tradition will be tested. As will our Members of Congress.
Perhaps all lines of decorum have been erased. Maybe devotion to an individual requires submission. I doubt it, but a straight up test of the White House as a merchandising wing of the Presidency should be put to those who vote on our behalf.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
Bob Kopec says
Trump a NATIONAL & WORLD embarrassment at best.
Robin Lee Westre says
The White house/Mar-a-lago has taken on a carnival atmosphere.
trudy wonder says
Imagine my surprise when, in February, I arrived at the international terminal in Dulles airport and decided to stop off at a newsstand shop to grab a bottle of water. There, at the checkout, was a prominent display of “presidential chocolates”; bars of all sizes, with the President’s picture front and center on the red, white and blue wrapper of every bar. I blinked my eyes and for a brief moment, I thought my flight had landed in North Korea by mistake. It was a display ‘the likes of which I never thought I’d see’ in my home country.
Mary Pendergast says
Al, if I didn’t know you, I would think you are pulling our legs. Though in all seriousness, you have raised an important issue that the Congress and courts seem unable to deal with. Perfume and bibles are bad, but cryptocurrencies could cause more harm to unsuspecting Americans. Thank you for speaking up.
Anne C Stalfort says
I showed the ad to a friend and expressed my horror. He said: well, he’s not in the Oval Office. How low the bar has fallen.
Wilson Dean says
To Trump, the Presidency is simply another marketing platform to increase his wealth. The honor of holding the office and his obligation to further the public good mean nothing to him. Everyone who voted against him knew that, but did the people who voted for him ever think about it? Or even care?
Bob Parker says
Good luck with such a motion passing each chambervof this Congress if the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader even allow it to the floor of their respective chambers. Some Congressmen will see trump’s activities as a signal that they too can do whatever to enrich themselves while in office, and others, those who are hard core MAGA acolyte will vote however trump’s wants their constituents, and ethics, be dawned. The entire Republican caucus in both houses will characterize such a resolution as politically motivated. While, to some extent, it is, that doesn’t negates the need to sanction trump for his avarice while in the WH that tarnishes the reputation and stature or all future Presidents.
Janice M. Johnson says
I completely agree with this article. Voters need to be aware of this.
Mickey Terrone says
Hi Al. The “Transactional President” has apparently completed yet another transaction for pecuniary gain in spite of the rules, laws and traditions of the Office of President of the United States. Perhaps the “Trump Bible” is likely the most repugnant and cynical example of how the amorality and greed intersect in Donald Trump. Yet these are tiny microcosms of what I believe is the “Big Transaction”.
The Republican Party made its deal (transaction) with the devil agreeing to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2024 in exchange for using his celebrity to establish as much of Project 2025 as possible. The deal requires the Republican leadership to look the other way with Trump’s extraconstitutional excesses and for Trump to use the Office of the President of the United States to establish an effective oligarchy, control elections and establish a national police force to control protests and protesters. The unidentified, masked agents who make arbitrary arrests on targeted individuals in the streets of cities nationwide are an American Gestapo in the making. Republicans in both Houses of the US Congress and in red state houses ask no questions.
This the Fascism 101 – How a minority political party establishes complete socioeconomic and political control over the majority in a democratic, constitutional republic. Trump has tapped into the market of fearful whites who don’t care what he does, so long as he demonstrates control over minorities. If Trump can arrest them, deport them, prevent them from voting, or taking the well-paying jobs to which these white folks feel entitled, they will support Trump and any other Republican named Joe. After all, many Republicans feel Trump in the “only” man capable of making America great again and that’s why God sent him to us.
With the far right think tank creating his political agenda, Trump is willing to use his cult-level followers’ blind adoration to pass the necessary legislation of the Big Beautiful Bill to establish the legality of Project 2025. This includes the Day 1 creation of the national emergency on immigration starting off the deportation of 12 million illegals. I fully expect the next national emergency will be “evidence” of “irregularities” prior to the 2026 off-year elections where Republicans must be protected from getting swept out of office in both the House and Senate.
In the meantime, Trump will use his six SCOTUS partners to bypass legal challenges in lower courts to speed the process along and Republican leadership will investigate Democrats and work to limit voting rights. And now Musk’s American Party will work to help Trump further divide the electorate and thus, strengthen the Republican cult core.
The Big Beautiful Bill (now law) is now a big beautiful weapon for Trump and his co-conspirators to rapidly establish their autocratic control and police power, i.e., using federalized National Guard troops as they did in Los Angeles and the aforementioned masked secret police backed by the “Justice” Department.
I’m afraid the only real Trump “fragrance” is the vile stench of fascism.