Melania Trump hawking hat, artwork to raise money for kids in foster care? Come on...


Auction WhiteHat Cryptocurrency MelaniaTrump

Taking a page from her husband, who sells everything from MAGA hats to mugs to beer koozies, former First Lady Melania Trump announced Tuesday that she’s now hawking items as part of a “historic” auction, to allegedly raise money for her “Be Best” foster care initiative.

Are these two cash-poor, or just cashing in on their 15 minutes before they’re behind bars? 

According to the site, the 51-year-old ex-model set the bid at $250,000, and you can only pay in cryptocurrency.

On sale are “three important one-of-a-kind signed items,” marking the first state visit from French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, to the White House in 2018. The items are a white hat, a watercolor of Melania wearing the white hat by French artist Marc-Antoine Coulon, and “an exclusive digital artwork NFT with motion,” also of Melania wearing—you guessed it—the white hat. 

The move by Trump is unconventional—and kind of tacky, if you ask me—as it is tradition for the First Lady to donate items to a presidential library, which has not been mentioned int his case, or to a museum. 

On Dec. 16, Trump announced her first NFT—that is, “non-fungible token”—a limited release that closed Dec. 31 and consisted of a watercolor of Melania’s eyes by Coulon, priced at $150.

The site declares that a “portion of the proceeds derived from this auction will provide foster care children with access to computer science and technology education.” But according to several outlets, no one has been able to gather what that portion will be exactly. 

Isn’t this the same person who famously wore a jacket emblazoned with the words “I don’t really care. Do u?” while visiting a migrant child detention center in Texas?

She was blasted by basically everyone for the inappropriate and insensitive message the jacket appeared to send. Her communications chief dismissed it as “just a jacket.” But, Trump told ABC News she wore the jacket intentionally. “It was for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me. I want to show them I don’t care. You could criticize whatever you want to say. But it will not stop me to do what I feel is right.”

The auction is set to begin on Jan. 11 and run through Jan. 25.