‘Trump Phone’ Delayed Again, Lazy Grifters Falsely Blame Government Shutdown
from the utterly-unsurprising dept
Last year we noted how the Trump organization had cooked up a half-assed wireless phone company. It was barely even a “phone company”; it was just a lazy marketing rebrand of another, half-assed, MAGA-focused, mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) named Patriot Mobile, which itself just resells T-Mobile service.
The centerpiece of this effort was supposed to be a “bold” new $500 Trump T1 smartphone the Trump org claimed would be “proudly designed and built in the United States” and released sometime last August. Not only was the device never going to be made in the States (all mention of that was quickly stripped from press materials), the August launch date came and went with no Trump phone.
With 2025 over there’s still no sign of the device. And the delay is being blamed on the government shutdown, despite the fact this device doesn’t have anything to do with the government (outside of trying to make a lazy buck off the Presidency):
“Though Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — the president’s two oldest sons — initially said that the gold-colored smartphone would come out in August, a Trump Mobile customer service representative told Business Insider that the phone won’t be shipped until the end of January 2026, a delay they partially attributed to the recent government shutdown.”
The phone, had it actually become available, appears to just be a sloppy reskin of a much cheaper sub-$200 phone produced in China; ironic coming from the MAGA folks who’ve spent the last decade whining about the national security threats posed by Chinese companies like Huawei and TikTok. The delays are also quite likely caused by either rank incompetence or the pointless tariffs, which they obviously can’t admit.
This was such a lazy grift that not only is there no phone, the Trump Mobile X account hasn’t posted since August. Despite the endless delays, the company is still taking $100 down payments from rubes. Normally here is where regulators might step in to penalize the company for its empty promises, but since Trump has destroyed what was left of U.S. consumer protection, that’s obviously not happening.
The project is run by the Presidents’ two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, who clearly can’t even grift competently and continue to make third world dictatorships seem like an upgrade over our dim, clumsy-ass nepobaby kakistocracy.
Filed Under: donald trump, grift, president, trump phone, wireless
Companies: patriot mobile, trump mobile
Comments on “‘Trump Phone’ Delayed Again, Lazy Grifters Falsely Blame Government Shutdown”
The site is selling the following renewed phones
Samsung S24
Samsung S23
iPhone 14
iPhone 15
And if that is where all London’s phones taken in snatches on the street have ended up I will be annoyed/laugh like a drain
Seriously though, where are they getting those phones from? Is it a supplier in China that fences stolen phones in bulk and sells them on as legit second hand?
Re:
I’m sure at least one Trump dcabinet official will have a chain of shady pawnbrokers, loansharks or cheque cashing places to provide a steady stream of used handsets.
I really can’t help but think that this was somehow all done because someone was dumb enough to think the ‘Obama Phone’ (aka, the derogatory term for the update to Reagan’s Lifeline program) was an ACTUAL phone that he made millions off of and wanted to take THAT legacy away from him as well.
Just makes me think of the FreeDumb Phone, who could say no to a phone sold by the world’s highest Erik, trying to sell us a phone that spies on us during our most private moments? I think that’s so wrong.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-piWdq2_sJc&pp=ygUORnJlZWR1bWIgcGhvbmU%3D
At this point, anyone who falls for this scam and sends them a “down payment” deserves exactly what they get, whether it’s nothing or it’s a cheap piece of propagandaware connected directly to offshore malware servers.
Re:
People paying for T1 don’t do it for the specs or the gold, but to support The Great Shiny King of the Free World.
And theses people are still supporting Him because they are masochists that love to be hurt. So please, don’t judge them.
Re: Re:
I do judge them, lets just say they’re going to be right alongside the people that collaborated with the Axis during the second world war on the civilian side. It will be quite warm where they’re going.
Should these devices ever actually exist, it occurs to me that they are unlikely to have had much focus on security.
As a result they might be quite hackable…
Apropos of nothing of course.
just blame biden.
They know the cattle (MAGA USians) will believe in anything they say and will gladly syphon money to whatever half-baked stupidity they throw around.
An idiot and their money are easily separated.
At least the Escobar gold phone scam had the decency to send some phones to customers in order to keep the grift alive.
I’m not sure whether this is laziness, incompetence, or simply an acknowledgement that their base is dumb enough that they can just reel them in without any effort at all.
And no libs were actually owned
“I bought this Trump phone to own the libs!”
Did you ever get the phone?
“No, but those libs will be feeling so totally owned when I do!”
Phone release, unlikely
The release of the phone under the ‘Trump Phone’ brand will be continually delayed just to distract the people from what’s truly going on.
The ones that put money down on said phone got played like a banjo and got their strings cut. Just like the farmers that thought they’d be helped when the tariffs devastated their business of exporting the seasons crops.
In all fairness...
All phones being sold in the U.S. have to be reviewed and certified by the FCC before being offered for sale. That’s what they’re claiming was delayed by the shutdown. But the OnePlus15 was affected by the same delay, yet they got it done and are selling and shipping phones. So are others.