Official merchandise sales from Donald Trump’s inaugural committee can be used to cover Trump’s personal expenses — including legal fees. In other words, those million-dollar “inaugural donations” made by top CEOs like Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, and companies like Meta, OpenAI, Uber, and Robinhood are little more than discreet bribes, since news organizations don’t have the stones to point it out. Via Forbes:
On November 9, the president-elect launched the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, a tax-exempt organization tasked with organizing events surrounding the inauguration; its website, t47inaugural.com, went live around that time, too. The site’s “merchandise” section redirects to WinRed, the Republican Party’s main fundraising platform, offering 38 inauguration-themed items ranging from a $12 pair of buttons to a $70 fleece pullover. In smaller print at the bottom of the page and during checkout, the site discloses that proceeds from these sales go to the Trump National Committee, which allocates 20% to Never Surrender, a leadership PAC formed on Nov. 12 when Trump’s 2024 campaign committee was renamed and restructured, and 80% to the Republican National Committee—completely bypassing the nonprofit inaugural committee.
