Hours after former President Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, merchandise featuring the former president had become hot-selling items for some retailers.
Demand for Trump mugshot paraphernalia has skyrocketed, reaching an unprecedented high, according to Richard Kligman, owner of two Trump Superstores in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
“The demand for anything and everything Trump has just exploded,” Mr. Kligman told The Epoch Times on May 31. “I mean, it is actually really nuts, and we’ve never seen anything close to what we are witnessing right now.”
Mr. Kligman said that on the afternoon of May 30, after the former president was found guilty, Trump supporters looking for memorabilia crashed his website.
“To say it’s been busy would be an understatement,“ he said. ”At this point, I could basically sell cow chips with the words ‘Trump 2024’ on them, and we would sell out.”
Mr. Kligman said that among his most popular selling items are “Appeal to Heaven” flags, hats, T-shirts, and custom-made decals that reference the recent conviction with a line reading “34 can’t stop 47.”
“Everyone wants to show support and, to be honest, it’s been overwhelming and not something we expected on this level,” he said.
Soaring demand has also made it difficult to keep Trump items in stock at The Trump Store and More in East Ellijay, Georgia, according to owner Elisha Bennett.
“Sales have skyrocketed,” Ms. Bennett said. “Everyone wants a hat or shirt, just anything Trump is on fire.
“People see this as the biggest scam on the American people, ever, and that is what they are trying to express.”
It has been the same experience at the Trump Store in Panama City, Florida, which has been experiencing an unprecedented boost in sales, according to its owner, who identified himself only as John.
“It’s hard to talk. I have 40 people in here right now, and everyone is looking for anything Trump,” he told The Epoch Times.
Trump Covers on the Resale Market
Further, national newspaper headlines featuring the historic guilty verdict are currently selling at premium prices on the secondary market.Much of the demand is fueled by anger over President Trump’s felony convictions.
After two days of deliberation, a jury of New Yorkers found President Trump guilty of all 34 criminal counts he faced for falsifying documents to cover up payments to Stephanie Clifford, better known as adult performer Stormy Daniels, who alleged that the two had engaged in an affair, during his successful 2016 campaign. The former president pleaded not guilty, denied allegations from Ms. Clifford about an affair, and claimed that the payments were standard legal expenses.
Falsifying business documents is normally a misdemeanor in New York. Still, prosecutors in District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office elevated the case to a felony on the grounds that President Trump was concealing an illegal campaign contribution. The former president wasn’t charged with any crimes related to the alleged election-related contributions, and this is the first instance in which charges of this nature have been levied, raising allegations that the case was politically motivated.
After the conviction was handed down on the evening of May 30, Justice Juan Merchan set the sentencing date for July 11, just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
On the morning of May 31, the former president responded to his felony conviction in New York, saying the trial was “very unfair,” and he said his team would appeal the case.
“If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” he said.
Trump retailers attribute the dramatic rise in demand for Trump-related memorabilia to patrons’ shared sense of injustice and a desire to defend a man they believe has been unfairly maligned by a system that is out to get not only the candidate but also his supporters.
“What has happened has reinforced their beliefs that their man has been railroaded. There is a common sense of community with some people just wanting to gather in the store,” Mr. Kligman said.
“This came as a trauma for a lot of people who now believe it is us versus them, and right versus wrong, and they feel compelled to stand on the side of what’s right—and for them, that means standing with Trump.”
