Given that the “Epstein Files fiasco,” and any anger among MAGA Nation over it, really has only happened in the last couple of weeks, that’s likely not the main cause, although clearly, something changed.
Maybe Trump filed lawsuits against all the vendors, seeking royalties for use of his name, likeness, slogans, etc.
Who here hasn’t gotten either a Summons or a Cease and Desist letter from him or his lawyers??
Yeah. Exactly.
Unlikely that he’d prosecute people selling pro-Trump merchandise, even if he wasn’t getting a cut of the profits.
I’m bumping this because I think this is a BIG FRIGGIN’ DEAL, and nobody else anywhere seems to have mentioned it.
I think this is a “Canary i a Coal Mine” moment – the impulse purchasing of pro-Trump T-shirts, which has been going on for years at these resorts for years has suddenly skidded to a halt. If the shirts aren’t out on display while we’ve still got several weeks of summer left, it’s because the people selling them are convinced that they won’t be selling. And they’re the ones sensing the mood. If they didn’t think something had changed, these shirts would still be out there on display.
I agree it’s a data point. I doubt whether we’ll see any clear movement in Trump’s favorability ratings though. What it implies is an ebbing of enthusiasm in the base. (Though could it have a more mundane cause? Could this be a step taken by the Chamber of Commerce, the zoning board, or the local powers that be? I’m imagining a ban on political material, not a ban on Trumpist material.)
Trump’s latest rally was on July 3rd at Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. He spoke for an hour. I’m wondering whether the next rally will go as well.
Hah! Not likely. And I’d that would have made the news.
Yeah, Occam’s razor says demand fell off, Trump paraphernalia put in storage, and demand will bounce back at some point. Or so vendors think.
I agree. But the interesting question is “Why did demand fall off?” Especially after years where it evidently remained high.
And in the middle of the summer tourist season, no less.
Trump’s trendline strong approval rating has hit a new low for this term, though the effect is not dramatic - it’s only 6/10ths of a percentage point below the previous low in mid-June.
Will it hit 24% within the next 3 weeks? That would be interesting.
As always, more data is better. When did the vendors stop displaying their Trump gear? When did they first notice demand falling off and how long did it take them to swap out their display? What about other locations? Lake George, NY? Texas rodeos? Iowa county fairs? Amazon sales?
Damned if I know. If I knew a effect like his would be going on in the future, I’d have taken pictures and monitored it on a more frequent basis.
And I don’t know how to get the information in any way besides going out and observing it.
I don’t know when the merchandise disappeared, but I know that it was there about a month ago.
Another couple of data points:
1.) I visited Weir’s Beach on Saturday, August 2. Still no Trump T-shirts on sale at the beach. Nearby, I did see one of those Inflatable Dancing Tube Men of the sort you se at auto dealerships that was made in the form of Donald TRump, complete with blue suit, red tie, and head of Trump Hair(R) . I think it was meant to be pro-Trump, but you can’t really be sure.
2.) On Sunday, August 3 I was driving with my wife, Pepper Mill, through the back roads of New Hampshire when she pointed out something – we hadn’t seen a single pro-Trump sign all day. The backroads of NH are the perfect places to see such signs, often really big ones. But she was right. We were in the middle of the drive and there hadn’t been a single one – and she had been looking for them. After her announcement, I kept an eye out for them, too. There were one or two false alarms from her, but they turned out to be mere advertising (not for Trump), not Trump support signs.
She opined that perhaps the absence of signs was due to significantly reduced Canadian tourism because of the Trump blight, but I still suspect the refusal to release the Epstein files was likely the catalyst for the disappearance of Trump signs.
Reduced Canadian tourism could have been cause, while the Epstein cover-up was the catalyst. Nationally, Trump’s strong approval rating remains pegged at 26.4%, the same as it was on July 21st. On July 1st it was 28.8%. On June 2nd it was 29.7%. So the 2.4% July decline compares with a background 0.9% decline in June.
Weak approval rose by about 1.6 percentage points in July, roughly equal to the 1.5% net decline in strong approval. Overall approval rose about 0.3% in July. Yes, this paragraph is confusing: some of it is due to me taking different starting dates for June, part of it is artifacts in the data, and maybe some of it is real.
Any reports of voluntary suburban Trump sign removal from other red-region dopers, preferably non-tourist regions?
Haven’t looked. The hard-core Trumpers near where I live mostly have their stuff still up, but it merits a closer look.
My neighbor and egg supplier has taken down the giant Trump banner from their barn.
Will they burn it? Or will that scare the hens from laying eggs…?
Everyone who wants them already has them, I guess.
Tourists won’t buy that sh-t.
“I guarantee” - Justin Wilson, god rest his soul
I went to Hampton Beach, NH yesterday (August 30 2025) and, while there, checked out the T-shirt shops. The Trump stuff is still missing from all of them except one. The only one that had a couple of Trump shirts now has a few more in evidence. They also have HUlk Hogan shirts, commemorating his death. I suspect it was while putting out the new Hulk Hogan shirts that they decided to add a little more Trump stuff.
But the other shops are still lacking Trump.
I[‘ve also visited Weirs beach on Lake Winnipesaukee, and it’s still innocent of Trump stuff.
Are not there still bonfire safety warnings there to prevent further forest fires…?
It’s hard to reason what other use a Trump shirt could be for other than kindling.
Paint rag to be destroyed. I wouldn’t clean with it, that would be an oxymoron, with a moron. I think I just blew a gasket.