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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
David Taintor

Trump finally makes his ‘major announcement’ – and it has nothing to do with his campaign

Truth Social / Donald Trump

Donald Trump has revealed his “major announcement”, which the former president teased with great fanfare on Wednesday.

It turns out that Mr Trump is selling digital trading cards of himself.

“My official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection is here! These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career! Collect all of your favorite Trump Digital Trading Cards, very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Speculation over the former president’s announcement centred around his campaign, and whether Mr Trump would be revealing a 2024 running mate or other political moves.

“Don’t Wait. They will be gone, I believe, very quickly!” Mr Trump added on Truth Social.

The bizarre merchandising announcement came just one day after Mr Trump posted an even stranger video to his bespoke Twitter clone, where he is contractually obligated to make such proclamations despite having recently been reinstated to Twitter, the platform he used to make policy announcements, hire and fire aides, and threaten enemies before he was banned in the wake of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The short animation Mr Trump posted with a teaser of a “major announcement” showed the ex-president pulling open a dress shirt to reveal a stylised “T” on an outfit underneath, a reference to the crest of the fictional House of El worn by the title character in DC Comics’ Superman series, and shooting what appeared to be energy beams from his eyes.

Mr Trump has long toyed with the idea of portraying himself as a real-life version of the comic book character, an undocumented immigrant who was raised by the Kent family in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, and earns a living as a journalist working under the name of Clark Kent.

When the then-president was stricken by Covid-19 in late 2020, he reportedly told aides he wanted to stage a photo opportunity upon leaving Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre that would have had him rip open his dress shirt to reveal a t-shirt bearing Superman’s signature logo underneath.

Although a Trump campaign aide was dispatched to obtain such a shirt, Mr Trump never undertook the stunt.

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