Saturday, May 11, 2019

Donald Duck, Maybe

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

I arrived home just before noon today after spending the better part of a week being a tourist and conventioneer in beautiful St. Charles, Missouri.  One of the first tasks that I face after returning from a trip is to go through the mail that accumulated during my absence.  Today's stack included four newspapers, bank statements, one catalogue, and an interesting assortment of advertisements, all but one of which I tore up without even opening.

(Alas, there were no long, newsy letters from adoring grandchildren!)

The one advertisement that I did choose to open had a garish warning on the envelope which said that I was eligible to buy a genuine Donald Trump presidential coin.  At first glance I was embarrassed to have been lumped in with all of the wife-beating, white-trash, meth manufacturers who populate the local country lanes - but I opened the packet anyway.

Inside I found a picture of the new coin with Trump's obese head on one side and a trim and fit American eagle on the other.  Also included was a timeline showing Trump's "achievements" from birth to the presidency -  a rather short list that included the completion of Trump Tower, the opening (but not the closing) of the Taj Mahal Casino, and Trump getting a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. There were, of course, no markers for graduate degrees, military service, international humanitarian awards - or things like that.

Several warnings about the need to rush to order because of "limited availability" were included - as well as a notice that the offer was "restricted" to one per customer.  Making something appear to be scarce is a marketing ploy, a fake urgency that even Trump the con-man and Trump the failed businessman would be able to understand and appreciate.

But I resisted.

And the price?  A modest forty dollars ($39.99) as well as an also modest five dollars ($4.95) for shipping - and handling.  (But purchasers could place their orders in a pre-paid, addressed envelope - and that shipping and handling was free!)

The people promoting this offense against good taste wasted their postage on me because Pa Rock ain't about to blow $45.00 of his hard-earned retirement income to show some respect for Donald John Trump.  Donald Duck, maybe - but Donald Trump, hell no!

(Perhaps the private "mint" that produced this masterpiece would come nearer making a profit if they did a FLOTUS series instead - and struck a coin featuring G-string Barbie on one side, and perhaps Stormy Daniels with a rolled-up newspaper on the other.  Those would probably sell like hotcakes - at least in my neighborhood!)

1 comment:

Xobekim said...

For grunts and grins it would be good to follow the money on this one. If the Donald is on the receiving end of any of this money, e.g. as a licensing fee, then these transactions violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

The Emoluments Clause has never been adjudicated so that the Supreme Court can tell us if it applies to the elected officials. What little comfort the Con-Man-In-Chief takes from that inaction is certainly offset by the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act of 1966, 5 U.S. Code § 7342, should worry him.