It is hard enough to report on Melania’s plans or “agenda” (if one wants to give it a more negative slant) with respect to issues we fully understand. Non Fungible Tokens remain an enigma to this staff other than it provides the buyer with digital art or something else of value, often paid for in cryptocurrency.
We all remember what happened with Melania’s first NFT auction, a collection of drawings of her in the “iconic” white hat in France, “Heads of State.” After a lot of legwork by others, it was discovered that Melania bought her own NFT collection. In the art world that would simply be done by withdrawing the item due to insufficient bids and paying the artist whatever the arrangement might have been. Melania used a convoluted means of paying that was, eventually, traced to her.
It appears no one knows why.
Now it’s time to sell again, but she’s not demanding six-figures for drawings this time, only $50 for “tokens” dedicated to the Trump presidency. There are 10,000 available and even we can do that math. She wants a half-million dollars. So does this site. We can relate, but cannot relate to why she’s going about things… maybe she’s way ahead of us about the future. For all we know, she’s making us all look like fools. But maybe not.
According to the Daily Beast [1]:
Melania Trump is planning to sell yet more digital art, this time as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) tied to artwork of Donald Trump in office. She’s calling it the “POTUS TRUMP NFT Collection,” according to a statement released Thursday. Dedicated to “celebrating the Trump presidency,” the 10 pieces of digital artwork, tied to 10,000 tokens priced at $50 on the Solana blockchain, will feature “iconic moments” from Trump’s time in office like his visit to Mt. Rushmore and the White House’s Christmas celebrations.
Melania stated:
“I am proud to expand upon my NFT platform and am honored to be able to recognize important moments in our Nation’s history.”
Okaayyy. Back to the Daily Beast:
The choice of Christmas might seem to be Melania tooting her own horn, as the former first lady planned the Christmas festivities and decorations herself. However, she was recorded saying at the time, “Who gives a f–k about Christmas stuff? [2]” Buyers won’t know which artwork their token represents until after purchase, and the tokens come in gold and platinum tiers, with the latter being rarer. Melania wrote, “Collectors can make multiple purchases to own the entire POTUS TRUMP Collection.”
Gold and platinum computer code and you don’t know which coin you get until you buy it? We don’t understand NFTs.
The Beast then reiterated that Bloomberg had just announced (days ago) that Melania purchased her first NFT and questions still swirl around what she is really doing.
It would be entirely dishonest if we were to claim to have any idea. Just know, the first failure isn’t stopping Melania.
Official POTUS TRUMP NFT Collection // Launching Presidents Day pic.twitter.com/fHht5vQesL [3]
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) February 17, 2022 [4]
Twitter had a field day:
Trump selling the PEOPLE’S HOUSE archives?!!
Melania and Donald are selling “Official Potus Trump NFT’s,” which are photographs taken by the Official White House Photogtapher (Shealah Craighead) @shealahDCphoto during Trump’s time in Office.@Emolclause [5] @CREWcrew [6]
Is this Legal?— Stephanie Winston Wolkoff (@SWinstonWolkoff) February 17, 2022 [7]
Don't forget to report any income from this unseemly grift to your accountants for tax purposes, Melania.
Oh, that's right . . . you don't have accountants anymore.
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) February 17, 2022 [8]
is this going to be another attempted grift where the people behind the project bid on your NFTs to drive up the price?
maybe next time make sure someone *else* wins the auction.
— Pé (@4everNeverTrump) February 17, 2022 [9]
No class, no dignity. https://t.co/iTwg6JA6nJ [10]
— JudyHensler24 (@JudyHensler24) February 17, 2022 [11]
Of course NFTs were too good of a scam for the Trumps to pass up. https://t.co/WIxIdeBTzZ [12]
— Rob Tracinski (@Tracinski) February 17, 2022 [13]
For the very low cost of $100 I can share with you the secrets of investing in non-fungible token or NFTs. With no backside risk assets like these are guaranteed to only grow bigger. Don't be left behind. https://t.co/BtvHPLCqlp [14] pic.twitter.com/SIPt9ekfm4 [15]
— Karl Gehring (@karlgehring) February 17, 2022 [16]
Did you get specific permission to do this, because pics taken by the WH photographer belong to us, not to be sold by grifters. Is this legal @USNatArchives [17] @TheJusticeDept [18] @FBI [19]
— CeCe Pro Democracy (@CeCe44061116) February 17, 2022 [20]
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[email protected] with Nicole Hickman