Huh. This hadn't even occurred to me:
What a creative way to bypass campaign finance limits pic.twitter.com/2PpjHRpmgy
— Steve Jurvetson (@FutureJurvetson) September 27, 2024
The whole $100,000 watch scam had me puzzled. It's way too expensive for Trump's usual MAGA crowd, and it's almost laughably obvious that it's barely even a luxury watch, let alone a high-end luxury watch. No rich person would wear it.
So what's the deal? The most obvious one is that it's just a way for rich donors to exceed campaign finance limits. The money goes to Trump, who then turns around and makes a $100,000 donation to his campaign. This is legal because you're allowed to contribute any amount to your own campaign. Just be careful to space things out a little randomly and you won't get caught.
Or maybe it's for his legal defense fund? Or he just figured it was worth a flyer? Ideas?
POSTSCRIPT: The watches are sold in a limited edition of 147. Why 147? Well, that's the number of Trump allies who voted against certifying the election for Joe Biden on January 6. Coincidence?
Here is the Grifter King with his latest scam, watches for $100,000 each. pic.twitter.com/2pD6ZjvMV1
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 26, 2024
I'm sure that some enterprising young lawyer in the DOJ could make a case, especially if the watches are purchased by foreign nationals employed by one or another of the many nations that oppose American policies under the current administration (cough:: Russia:: cough).
… which would be voided by the Supreme Court …
What is this DOJ you speak of?
The one recently emasculated by SCOTUS.
Adams must be regretting that he didn't sell fake luxury watches to Turkey.
The money goes to Trump who turns around and puts it in his pocket. Trump is a grifter, not a strategic schemer.
Yes, indeedy.
I'm sure the RNC and Trump-aligned PACs can a few of them purchase them.
The point here is not that anyone will buy these watches; it's that the little people who are Trump's marks believe Trump is surrounded by affluent people who will buy them. It's a retail trick he's incorporated into the grift; it makes the cheap, mass-produced stuff seem like a better deal.
And everyone should get over to Digby and watch the clip of Barbara Walters interviewing the grifter as the Atlanta debacles began. The man has not changed at all, except to get fatter, uglier, and less coherent. And to have moved on to another wife.
But how I wish someone would take him on today like Waters did that day long ago.
have any of kevin's tuesday afternoon lunching crew bought a trump watch?
OMG the watch is just a piece of crap. You get what you pay for - and if Trump is elected, then this nation gets what they voted for - more crap. He is a grifter nothing more and nothing less - the endless con.
They haven't been made yet--that's just guess at what the final product would look like.
I keep picturing someone scraping off the "imex" then setting up a "rump" stencil.
They probably just used a Sharpie.
I was wondering how shitty a Trump watch would be, and assuming it would be pretty bad. I'm also just generally baffled by the concept of paying college tuition amounts of money for a watch of all things.
I mean, I understand the appeal of luxury goods because in most cases the fancy good really is of higher quality than the mass market one (an expensive mercedes or something really is a better vehicle than cheaper cars in the same category: better interior features, more cutting edge technology and bells and whistles, etc.; similarly, luxury furniture is generally made of higher quality materials and more durable construction than Ikea stuff)--it's just up to the consumer to decide if those extras are worth the cost/affordable to begin with.
But with watches, a fancy watch is an inferior product. For ~1% the price of this moronic Trump watch, you can get an extremely high-end timepiece (from Garmin or Apple or whoever) that tells you precise location, altitude, your heartrate, and a plethora of physical data that is useful for managing your health, athletic activities, sleep, etc.,* plus calendar alerts and emails, texts, etc. in addition to telling time with far greater accuracy and reliability than something like this Trump watch, which appears to use actual gears as part of timekeeping.
I just don't get it. I fully understand that watches are a type of jewelry, and no jewelry is functional in any real sense of the word. But watches are also technology; nobody would pay a 100x markup to buy, say, a 2024 swarovski crystal cellphone that had less functionality than the 2006 iphone, so why do the same with a watch?
_________
*Of course, a lot of people don't want whatever company makes said watch to have all that data, which is fair enough. In which case, you can get an even cheaper watch that still outperforms the luxury comparitor, and use the $100k you saved to pick up a couple of bespoke saville row suits, a tesla model S, or a luxury vacation with Clarence Thomas.
Yes. Or, you can look at your smartphone, which shows your the time derived from atomic clocks. Of course, it’s also collecting all kinds of data about you for your service providers to use or sell …
I don't look to defend the trump "watch." I will however defend gears in general. Properly cared-for, those gears will tell time accurately enough for human purposes, for centuries. That wrist-worn piece of technology likely will not persist for a generation.
"Properly cared-for, those gears will tell time accurately enough for human purposes, for centuries."
Very true and by the same point, a properly cared for slide rule or abacus can do calculations for far longer than any computer I could buy. And, I have no doubt that a properly cared for sundial--with no moving parts--will keep time accurately enough for human purposes for millenia.
Althugh counterpoint: mechanical devices like a gear-driven watch will require frequent human correction and less-frequent-but-still-necessary replacement parts, both of which will rely on a robust external set of civilizational technology and specialist repairpeople anyway.
Also: (nearly) nobody buys a watch thinking that this watch will satisfy not only their timekeeping needs, but the timekeeping needs of all their descendants for the next 200 years. Nor is the world awash in timepieces from the prior couple of centuries, which is what you'd expect if watches actually did have a useful lifespan of hundreds of years.
Case in point: although I do own my grandfather's ancient windup pocketwatch, I keep it in a safe in the closet, and never use it to tell time. Why? Because it's far more valuable to me as a memento of dear departed Grampa Hickman than as a timepiece, and to get it operating again I'd have to find a jeweler somewhere who knew how to repair that type of watch, and the expense, hassle, and risk of loss/damage that the process would incur far outweigh whatever use I'd have for the watch as a chronometer.
Junk, yes.
"Indeed, even though the website touts “Swiss-made” when describing the watches, it’s not uncommon among manufacturers of lower-priced designs to manipulate that designation by purchasing some Swiss-made parts and assembling the watch in another country. By Thursday afternoon, several experts across social media pointed out that the more expensive watch’s tourbillon, a mechanism designed to improve accuracy and typically found in pricier timepieces, seemed to be sourced from both Switzerland and China. “Those blue screws on the tourbillon cage are a dead giveaway that it was partly made in China. You won’t find blue screws on a tourbillon made in Switzerland,” noted the marketing director. “And you can pick up a Chinese tourbillon for $100.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/style/trump-watch-likely-made-in-china-overpriced-1236013728/
The same thing happened in the lead up to Reagan running for POTUS. He bought a ranch for $X from the money class, then the money class bought it back a year or 2 later for $10X. Presto! Reagan's a rich man.
I am old enough to remember that. It was presented as Reagan's admirers glad to have the opportunity to show their appreciation.
I see people using the term "grift" for this. I don't think that's the right term. Grift is a better term for cheating the rubes. The hundred-dollar Trump bibles are an example (though when orgs and LLCs are making bulk purchases, it's probably something else).
The rubes don't have a hundred grand to buy a watch. The people who do are rich, and most of them are far too smart to buy an expensive watch that's garbage from Trump at a ridiculously inflated price even for an expensive watch. More likely, they'll buy something like a Rolex for $10,000 after being on a waiting list for eons with thousands of other prospective buyers who all know they are buying not just a luxury name but quality and an item that will hold its value forever.
There's a different target market for $100,000 Trump watches. It's probably the same one involved with his crooked schemes selling condos. In other words, he's laundering dirty money for Russian mafia and other crooks overseas.
(I doubt any of the proceeds are going toward his campaign. There is no campaign. He has no ground game. Mot tv ads are paid for by billionaire-funded PACs. His campaign funds are going toward legal expenses and keeping up his lifestyle.)
It's his early version of Bitcoin for money laundering. Of course now he has his own digital currency for this purpose.
Well the "rubes" might not have enough spare cash for a crappy Trump watch at $100,000 grand so they might have to settle for a Trump Bible or some gaudy awful Trump sneakers ....or all the other crap he has for sale at an "affordable price point.
"The rubes don't have a hundred grand to buy a watch."
Oh, there are plenty of rich rubes out there. For example, I know of this one rich dumbass who inhereted his wealth from his racist slumlord dad, and he got suckered by Kim Jong Un of all people despite having an entire state department at his disposal warning him he was getting conned!
Read the JVLast essay that examines both high and low end Trump watches to see how much they probably cost to make - and their ambiguous quality. A good read:
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know?utm_source=substack&publication_id=87281&post_id=149446583
Next he will be selling his used cloths. He could get a fortune for those big red ties laces with KFC grease.
It's the gratuitous amount that makes it look like an end-around the FEC and everyone knows he's going to test the boundaries of what's legal.
I've seen this inane theory on X. But please. This is going right into his pocket. He's not going to throw good money after bad by using personal funds to buy TV spots. Trump realizes he may lose, and he's trying to make hay while sun is still shining. The whole family's in on the act from what I can see.
Also, are the various forces trying to reelect Trump having trouble raising money? I realize the Harris campaign is out-raising his campaign, but $15 million isn't going to be a difference maker. And he gets vast quantities of earned media.
This is about Trump's personal greed, pure and simple, as is almost always the case.
+1
The Drumpf campaign is now very much taking on an air of "Berlin bunker April 1945."
It's comforting to think so, but this is plainly not true. Back in spring of 1945, Hitler didn't have a chance in hell of winning the war. In the fall of 2024, Trump has at least a 50-50 shot at winning the presidency.
No complacency folks--we've got work to do.
In the fall of 2024, Trump has at least a 50-50 shot at winning the presidency.
Oh for sure. There's not a shred of doubt this remains a very plausibly winnable election for Donald Trump. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I was simply commenting on the vibe I personally get out of the Trump family: it's as if they sense (fear?) the end is near. But instead of the orgies and drink-soaked parties of the Third Reich's dying days, we're seeing an orgy of buckraking scams (watches, crypto, Melania's books, etc).
It's Trump. When in doubt just assume it's a fraud. 10 times out of 10 you'd be right. The watch is probably made with the cheapest quality of gold there is, if it's gold at all. The name Trump is virtually synonymous with fraud.
The idea that the money from this grift is going into his campaign and not straight into his pocket is what’s laughable to me. And if you believe that only 147 of these will be sold I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Of course the stupid watch is made from cheap, Chinese-sourced parts. Otherwise it wouldn't be an Authentic Trump Grift™. To wit, his officially endorsed Bible is likewise almost certainly printed in China on cheap paper using the public-domain KJV, so as to make it even cheaper. There's actually a guy on YouTube who "rates" Bibles and he has a pretty good takedown of the whole scam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_6TVa7scKM
As someone said early on, Trump is a stupid person's idea of what a rich guy looks like.
Best disclaimer on the website, via that Bulwark piece: “The Tourbillon watches are not intended for water exposure.”
JFC. They're not even water *resistant*? The one upside to this scam is that if you ever come across anyone wearing one of these pieces of shit, you can safely assume they 1. obviously have money to waste and 2. are complete idiots. Proceed accordingly.
This. Much like the idiots who spend $50 to buy and wear a made-in-china maga hat and matching "fuck your feelings" t-shirt readily identify themselves as classless assholes with at least $50 to burn, fools buying and wearing the expensive flavor of these trump watches are identifying themselves as classless assholes with $100k to burn. Nothing more.
It's a bit less ostentatious (how many observers will be able to correctly identify which piece of gilded garbage our imaginary profligate trumper is wearing on their wrist?), but otherwise the same.