Former President Donald Trump’s new trading cards — billed as collectible “non-fungible tokens” ahead of Christmas — appear to rely on widely available photos on the internet, including images from Amazon and Walmart.
Mr. Trump says he sold out of the cards, available for $99 apiece, but the release prompted eye-rolling from political allies.
Now, some journalists and Twitter users are noticing the cards appear to place the ex-president’s face on stock images.
For instance, a card depicting him as a cowboy features a duster jacket from Scully Leather, according to PC Mag.
Images depicting Mr. Trump in a tuxedo or western jacket also appear to be based on online merchandise, it reported.
Journalist Matthew Sheffield noted that other images, including a fighter pilot card and an astronaut image, appear to be based on photos found in news articles or Shutterstock images.
PC Mag said it reached out to the contrast artist who worked on the cards, Clark Mitchell, for comment, but the artist did not respond. He only commented Thursday on the cards’ release, tweeting: “This is def a unique day for sure.”
Some of Mr. Trump’s allies are wondering why the former president bothered to release the cards. Mr. Trump had billed the release as a “major announcement,” only for him to hawk the images to those willing to pay.
“I can’t do this anymore,” former Trump adviser and strategist Steve Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast after watching part of the trading card rollout video with fellow Trump supporters Sebastian Gorka and Steve Cortes — both former assistants to Mr. Trump. “He’s one of the greatest presidents in history, but I gotta tell you: whoever — what business partner and anybody on the comms team and anybody at Mar-a-Lago, and I love the folks down there — but we’re at war. They oughta be fired today.”