With sneaker sales, Trump supporters see new ways to support their candidate. One said he’s willing to spend up to $10,000 in merchandise.
Holding a pair of golden sneakers, former President Donald Trump took to the stage to give a different kind of campaign speech.
“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. I think it’s gonna be a big success,” he said as he introduced his new official sneaker line at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia on Feb. 17.
The high tops he debuted featured an all-gold body embossed with a “T” on the side, an American flag collar, and white and red soles.
“We have to go out and vote. We [have] got to get young people out to vote,” he said.
It was an unprecedented move—launching a sneaker line for his personal enterprise and soliciting votes for his presidential campaign at the same time.
By doing that, he was converging the identities of Trump the celebrity and Trump the candidate. While Democrat and independent voters scoffed at it as a “joke,” they told The Epoch Times that they expect the MAGA base to follow along, and they were correct.
“I would support anything he wants to do to acquire money to fight the illegal lawsuits that have been brought against him,” Stephen Robinson from Virginia told The Epoch Times at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a major gathering of Trump supporters.
The cumulative legal judgments against President Trump stand at about half a billion, including a $355 million fine handed down the day before the sneaker launch.
Mr. Robinson said he would love to have a pair of Trump sneakers, but not at the high prices listed in the secondary market after the limited edition of 1,000 pairs up for presale sold out at $399 a pop. One pair is listed on eBay for $45,000.
He said paying for Trump products is no different than supporting the Trump campaign because a Trump presidency is the solution he needs.
“I would stop being depressed every day and worried about the future of the country and worried about my daughter’s future,” Mr. Robinson said.
