For sale: one country


You now have another reason to skip the state of the union address — the commercials.

President Trump is seeking to parlay his first State of the Union address on Tuesday into cash for his reelection campaign by offering supporters a chance to see their name flashed on the screen during a broadcast of the speech.

In a fundraising solicitation on Monday, Trump offered those willing to pay at least $35 the opportunity to see their name displayed during a live streaming of the address on his campaign website.

This guy really is a cheap huckster, isn’t he?

Comments

  1. lumipuna says

    Have they tried crowdfunding the Mexican border wall? Get your name in one of the bricks, and so on.

  2. jrkrideau says

    I was just watching a couple of interviews with Vladimir Putin. I am sorry I don’t speak Russian. I had to depend on the subtitles.

    The contrast between Putin and Trump is amazing. Putin, highly intelligent, very fluent in discussion, apparently good humoured but more than willing to mock an American interviewer; Trump, able to say “MAGA” and swing a golf club.

    @ 2 holytape
    Most crooked politicians are cheap to buy, American ones seem especially cheap, but you are right. This is ridiculous. Trump needs a business manager.

  3. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    Another reason to avoid it like the “Slop Of The Unintelligent”

  4. laurian says

    This is a puzzlement. What would motivate a person to have their name associated with America’s openly treasonous President?

  5. David Marjanović says

    How is that not an illegal bribe?

    Is there anything in particular that makes you think it isn’t, in fact, an illegal bribe?

    Trump doesn’t know what he’s allowed to do on his job, and he doesn’t care about finding out.

  6. davidnangle says

    I gotta watch. Just on the off chance that something triggers him and he starts ranting. Or fumbles his glass of water. Or lets slip some obvious racism. Or is called out as a liar. Or is avoided by most during the grand entrance. Or tumbles over a step somewhere. Or has Ruth Bader Ginsburg moon him.

    Chances are, I won’t make it too far into the speech, but I have to make myself try.

  7. robro says

    voidhawk @ #3

    Surely he can’t do Party Political fundraising during official Presidential duties?

    I think you mean this particular act of political party fundraising associated with official presidential duties. Many modern presidents have have used their office for party purposes and political fundraising. However, it’s certainly an unusual method of leveraging the presidency to make money.

    One fine point: The WP story says the offer is to donate to his reelection campaign, not to the Republican party. They are separate fund raising organizations.

  8. sinned34 says

    A burner phone and disposable credit card, and both Vladimir Putin and Lucifer Von Satan will be shown on the state of the union address as donating to trump’s re-election campaign.

  9. Chris Capoccia says

    Do people really plan on watching this from Trump’s fundraising website? There are lots of other media outlets that will not be running a ticker of Trump’s supporters

  10. says

    CNN roports that the minimum is now down to $1. Probably afraid $35 would price him out of the market. I plan to paint a wall at about 5 pm PST so I can spend my time more productively watching paint dry during the SOTU address.

  11. Akira MacKenzie says

    My reaction to the SotU:

    Fuck the president.
    Fuck those bigoted, moronic slobs who support him.
    Fuck the pledge.
    Fuck the anthem.
    Fuck the motto.
    Fuck the flag.
    Fuck capitalism.
    Fuck religion… especially Christianity.
    Fuck this shithole of a country.

  12. says

    Cross posted from the Political Madness All the Time thread.

    The chilling attack on liberal democracy buried in Trump’s speech

    […] “I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet Secretary with the authority to reward good workers,” Trump said, “and to remove Federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people.”

    On the surface, this proposal may seem benign — who doesn’t want public employees who “fail the American people” to be removed? But laws protecting civil servants against politically motivated firings are one of the foundations of liberal democracy.

    They are what enable a prosecutor ordered to bring frivolous charges against the president’s political rivals to say no.

    They are what permit investigators to target people suspected of genuine legal violations, not companies that compete with the president’s businesses. […]

    Read more: https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2018/01/17/discuss-political-madness-all-the-time-5/#ixzz55mA4h0hj

  13. Dave, ex-Kwisatz Haderach says

    Any other reactions to the SotU? Its not my union and listening to your president talk for more than 2 minutes gives me a grinding headache, so I skipped it.
    The media seems to be fawning over Trump demonstrating “leadership ability” by reading a speech written by someone else and not going off on a deranged tangent (tho to be fair, I didn’t think he could pull that off either)..

  14. says

    Dave, at comment 20: multiple reactions are posted on the Political Madness thread. You may have to scroll up to read them.

    As far as Trump reading off the teleprompter goes, he is slowly improving at that, but he is still painfully incompetent. It’s hard to watch. His speech, about 5,500 words, took longer to deliver than did an Obama speech with twice as many words. Trump was slow, dismally slow.

    Stephen Miller was the main speech writer.

    Trump’s incompetence, coupled with a few moments of direct eye contact with the audience, like when Trump shouts, “In God We Trust!”, made for a performance that was almost unwatchable. Gave me a headache.

  15. Dave, ex-Kwisatz Haderach says

    @ Lynna, OM #21

    Yeah, I committed the cardinal sin of not refreshing before a post. I appreciate all your hard work posting all those links, but I dip my toe into that thread infrequently, too much American politics at once is scary. I’m lucky not to have to live it, you all have my sympathies (not being holier-than-thou, we have our own deplorables). I’d much rather hear how the Horde reacted, then what the various swamp creatures had to say.

    Sounds like Trump inspired headaches are a fairly common occurrence. How long until he brags about the growth he is creating in the painkiller market?