Donald Trump’s Campaign Is Facing Backlash For Selling Branded Markers After ‘Sharpiegate’
After the president reportedly used a marker to alter an official weather map of Hurricane Dorian hitting Alabama, the Donald Trump election campaign began selling branded permanent markers to cash in on the resulting “sharpiegate.” Shoppers can visit the Trump campaign website to purchase a set of five black permanent ink fine tip markers with Trump’s signature in gold on the barrel of the pen.
Campaign manager Brad Parscale announced the new merchandise via Twitter on Friday.
“Buy the official Trump marker, which is different than every other marker on the market, because this one has the special ability to drive @CNN and the rest of the fake news crazy! #KeepMarkersGreat,” he wrote.
At the same time, the official Trump campaign Twitter account tweeted a promotion of their own.
“Let’s drive @CNN and the rest of the FAKE NEWS absolutely crazy! Get your official ‘Trump Marker’ NOW,” the campaign tweeted.
While many people commenting on the posts were amused with the merchandise, others found the concept not only distasteful, but a celebration of the instance where the president appeared to doctor official documents to support his mistaken report that the hurricane would slam into Alabama.
“In what I think is a first, the Trump campaign is now selling dishonesty memorabilia,” tweeted CNN reporter Daniel Dale.
New York Daily News political reporter Chris Sommerfeldt tweeted that this merchandise appears to confirm that Trump is the one who altered the map.
“I guess this is confirmation that Trump himself altered that hurricane projection map with a black marker,” he wrote.
Stephen Pasquale, an actor and producer, questioned whether this move was a new low point for the Trump administration.
“Selling memorabilia that celebrates dishonesty apparently. A new low? Nah,” he tweeted.
Claude Taylor tweeted a different version of the marker.
That’s pretty lame, Brad. Try ours. https://t.co/R9w1hoPbyy https://t.co/SLj6srTfXz pic.twitter.com/sRDUlnEA8I
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) September 6, 2019
Joe Lockhart, a CNN political analyst, tweeted that the campaign was making money off of its own ignorance.
The definition of a party of grifters. Make money off your own stupidity. https://t.co/oajCDbYamk
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) September 6, 2019
The Washington Post opinion writer Paul Waldman also weighed in on the merchandise.
80 percent of the Trump reelection campaign's staff is assigned to the Owning The Libs Department, and they are working day and night to make sure the libs are properly owned https://t.co/PayhPEqNxj
— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) September 6, 2019
Trump tipped off intense backlash after stating that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama, something that was immediately disputed by local weather experts. Rather than issuing a correction, Trump held a press conference in the Oval Office where he displayed a map showing the hurricane’s path. At the end of the path, someone had drawn an extension to make the pathway reach Alabama, a move that would eventually become called “sharpiegate.”
In the days that followed, as The Inquisitr reported, Trump doubled and tripled down on his claim that the hurricane’s path would hit the state, though it never did.
