NY Post calls Trump ‘con artist’ for trading card stunt

The Murdoch-owned paper is the latest conservative outlet to criticise the former president.

The Ruper Murdoch-owned New York Post criticised former president Donald Trump’s announcement of NFT trading cards in an editorial on Thursday, branding the former president a “con artist.”

The former president announced on Thursday that he would launch the sale of digital trading cards that feature aspects of his life and presidency.

Many conservatives, including some former campaign and administration officials derided the move. Mr Trump’s stock among Republicans has fallen precipitously since the midterms last month, when many of the candidates he endorsed in battleground races lost.

The Post’s editorial similary lambasted the announcement, noting how many people thought it would be related to the race for speaker of the House in Congress or that he had found the voter fraud that he had proclaimed for years.

“But no, it was a digital card collection of Trump dressed up like a superhero,” the editorial said. “In other words, another money grab. For those still inundated with Trump’s pleas for donations, which arrive three or four times a day with ALL CAPS emails and efforts to shame you into ‘not letting him down,’ this is no surprise. Trump used to be in the business of hotels, golf courses, wine, and dubious universities. Now he specializes in political fundraising.”

The the editorial noted how he had raised $100m promising to “stop the steal” even though there was no evidence of voter fraud and that he pocketed much of the money he raised for candidates. The editorial also highlighted how Mr Trump has plummeted in polls, especially in comparison to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Still, the Post said that he commands a “sophisticated” donor list and that Mr Trump bet that if he raised enough money, he could clear the field. But many donors have expressed they are not interest in backing him.

“And how many of his small-dollar donors, tired of all this “winning” and burned by “major announcements” of the least desirable Pokémon, will finally send those email pleas to spam?” the editorial said. “Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us 1,438 times, and it may finally be too much.”