Sneakers. Perfume. Trading cards. Bibles.<\/p>\n
Those are just some of the products Donald Trump is hawking while he runs to unseat President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
They join a sprawling catalog of Trump-branded merchandise, ranging from steaks to scented candles, that the businessman-turned-president has licensed over the years.<\/p>\n
But as his campaign coffers dwindle and his fortune comes under threat, Trump \u2014 who has never completely severed his political career from his financial one \u2014 is now actively intertwining his business ventures with his White House bid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no precedent for this level\u201d of business activity during a presidential campaign, Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig told CNBC, though \u201cthe trend has been building for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director of money-in-politics watchdog Documented, agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t think of any other modern example of a presidential candidate hawking an array of goods for their private benefit,\u201d Fischer said.<\/p>\n For an average candidate, that activity might trigger a campaign finance investigation \u2014 but it likely won\u2019t for Trump, who has been selling branded goods long before he entered politics, according to Fischer.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump is a unique case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That uniqueness was on full display Tuesday, as Trump unveiled his latest promotion: a $60 Bible that includes copies of the nation\u2019s founding documents, along with lyrics from country star Lee Greenwood\u2019s hit song, \u201cGod Bless the U.S.A.\u201d<\/p>\n The song by Greenwood, who is partnering with Trump to endorse the high-priced holy book, is a regular needle drop at the presumptive Republican nominee\u2019s campaign rallies.<\/p>\n Trump made the campaign connection even more explicit in a video announcing the promotion, warning that Americans\u2019 rights are under threat and declaring, \u201cwe\u2019re gonna get it turned around.\u201d He also invoked his campaign slogan, \u201cMake America Great Again,\u201d multiple times.<\/p>\n It is unclear how much money Trump is making off the Bible \u2014 he is receiving royalties from its sales, a person familiar with the arrangement told The New York Times \u2014 but whatever he gets will be effectively going into his pocket.<\/p>\n The website for the Bibles says it has no link to Trump\u2019s campaign. It instead uses Trump\u2019s name, likeness and image under paid license from a company called CIC Ventures LLC.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s 2023 financial disclosure calls him the \u201cManager, President, Secretary, & Treasurer\u201d of CIC Ventures, and lists his revocable trust as the sole owner of the company. Trump has made more than $5 million in speaking engagements through the company, the disclosure shows. Florida business records show CIC\u2019s address is the same as Trump\u2019s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n Lessig noted that Trump\u2019s business moves do not appear to be violating campaign ethics or financial rules.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any ethical problem with it at all \u2014 so long as the proper reporting requirements are complied with,\u201d the professor said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere may well be a strategic or brand problem with it, but that\u2019s the same as with any political speech,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n A Trump campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to CNBC\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s Biblical endorsement came during Holy Week, the run-up to Easter and a sacred time for Christians. It also came less than six weeks after Trump traveled to a sneaker convention in Philadelphia to launch his own line of tennis shoes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sneakers. Perfume. Trading cards. Bibles. Those are just some of the products Donald Trump is hawking while…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}