Trump never stopped selling merch after the election. Here's why.
Plus: This bill would make sure U.S. military bases display a portrait of the commander-in-chief
Christmas came early this year for subscribers to President Donald Trump’s mailing list.
The first email promoting the campaign’s latest Christmas merch came Nov. 6, for $15 “MAGA green wrapping paper.” And ever since, in between emails like one asking supporters whether they would “accept a tariff rebate check signed by Trump,” or another attacking New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as a communist (“A communist was just elected in NYC, and you STILL haven’t joined my Anti-Communist Club?!” the email signed by Trump read), his mailing list has also promoted the 2026 MAGA Christmas line.
It’s the latest in an ongoing, annual holiday fundraising tradition for Trump, and though you wouldn’t think a term-limited U.S. president would have much to fundraise for, Trump, of course, is no normal president.
The campaign’s shop offers three Trump-themed wrapping paper designs, including one in black that says “Never Surrender,” a $40 Merry Christmas edition “Make America Great Again Hat” with embroidered Christmas trees and Christmas lights, and a $40 red MAGA hat ornament.
Tees, hoodies, and sweatshirts that range from $25 to $50 picture Trump in a Santa hat or write out “Make America Great Again” in knit-style type for an ugly Christmas sweater look. The $35 official Trump 2026 calendar was made for 13 months and a $32 ornament of Trump’s silhouette with his fist raised is labeled the “MAGA Fist Christmas Ornament.”
Since he was elected in November 2024, Trump has brought in nearly $2 billion from fundraising and legal settlements, according to The Atlantic, a sum without precedent, and it’s from much more than hat sales.
“While it is not unusual for lame duck presidents to fundraise for their libraries, what we are seeing from President Trump in his first year of office is shockingly unprecedented,” Trevor Potter, a former Republican chair of the Federal Election Commission, or FEC, told the magazine.
Consider: Trump’s nearly $2 billion haul in the year since the election is more than the $1.2 billion his campaign and the Republican National Committee, or RNC, raised during the entirety of Trump’s two-year 2024 campaign beginning in November 2022. So much for drain the swamp.
Many of Trump’s big paydays from donors like Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Coinbase, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp have been earmarked for projects like his White House renovations and planned ballroom or future presidential library. Buying a MAGA hat ornament, though, pays for campaigning.
The proceeds of Trump’s campaign merch are split between three groups, according to campaign disclosures. Never Surrender, the new name for Trump’s 2024 campaign PAC which was converted to a leadership PAC, receives 77.5%, while the rest is divided up between the RNC, which receives 17.5%, and Working for Ohio, Vice President J.D. Vance’s leadership PAC, which receives 5%.
Never Surrender is preserving liquidity ahead of next year’s midterm elections, with more than $38.5 million in cash on hand as of June, according to the most recent data available from the FEC. Add to that $196 million from the main pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc., and more than $12 million from Trump’s joint fundraising committee, and the president looks poised to enter the midterm election year with a bank account Politico says “could allow him to become one of the biggest single players in next year’s midterms.”
Trump’s admitted he can’t constitutionally run for a third term, but that doesn’t mean he’s not thinking about the next election. By raising and hoarding cash, Trump can better play kingmaker in next year’s Republicans primaries and spend big in the general election campaign. Trump is hoping to help elect a 120th Congress that’s friendly to him, and MAGA Christmas merch helps him pad his war chest before the new year.
New York City found six clever ways to beautify its scaffolding
New designs take up less space on the sidewalks and let more light in.
New York City is improving on the ubiquitous, unsightly green scaffolding that for decades has adorned city sidewalks to protect pedestrians from the potential for falling debris in construction zones. On Tuesday, the city’s Department of Buildings, or DOB, released six designs that were part of its “Get Sheds Down” initiative, named after the term “construction sheds,” a synonym for scaffolding.
The six designs were made for different construction needs. “The Speed Shed,” by Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, was designed for quick projects and emergency repairs and uses and angled roof with netting to allow more sunlight onto the sidewalk below. “The Rigid Shed” (below) by the firm Arup, was designed for heavy-duty construction projects but made to take up a smaller footprint.
“These new shed designs are leaps and bounds above what we see on sidewalks today and coupled with scientific evidence-based reforms of the city’s façade inspection regulations, they will help us unclog pedestrian spaces for our fellow New Yorkers,” DOB Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said in a statement.
This bill would make sure U.S. military bases display a portrait of the commander-in-chief
The proposed bill comes after controversy at one base where Trump’s portrait was flipped.
Newly proposed legislation would require U.S. military branches to report to the president every four years to confirm they have his or her picture up. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced the Respect the Chief Act, which would mandate the Department of Defense, or DOD, deliver a report to POTUS about compliance in having the right portraits on display at all its installations.
The bill comes after a U.S. Army commander in Wisconsin was relieved of duty in April when social media photos showed that in the place where portraits of Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were supposed to be on the base’s command-and-control leadership board, the frames were instead facing backwards.
Blackburn’s office said there is no federal statues about command boards, which show portraits of the commander-in-chief and other leadership, and “the practice remains largely a matter of custom, grounded in military tradition and shaped indirectly by service regulations on chain of command and protocol.”
The bill would require a report be delivered to Trump by Jan. 31, 2026, and thereafter, every president and congressional defense committees would receive the report within 120 days of a presidential inauguration or confirmation of a new Defense Secretary.
The bill was introduced earlier this month, before Trump on Thursday said Democratic lawmakers who participated in a video telling U.S. service members to ignore illegal, unconstitutional orders had engaged in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” (capitalization his).
Have you seen this?
The “do my own research” voter has a new research assistant. Voters searching for a candidate or issue are often getting a single neatly packaged answer assembled by artificial intelligence from whatever sources it finds most credible and clearly written. And if it answers their question, their “research” is done. That’s great if your campaign is one of those sources. If not, it’s a problem. [Campaigns & Elections]
DOT to require use of female crash test dummies for the first time. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday unveiled an advanced female crash test dummy — the THOR-05F — that could help close the staggering gap of higher injury rates for women than men in certain crash scenarios. [NBC News]
That Epstein ‘Bubba’ email has inspired a wave of inappropriate Trump-Clinton merch on Etsy. E-commerce sellers are, perhaps predictably, looking to cash in on some of the more viral details of the recently released Jeffrey Epstein documents. [Fast Company]
