President Joe Biden mocked former President Donald Trump’s “major announcement” that he is launching a line of NFT trading cards on Thursday with a list of his own recent major announcements.
In a tweet from his campaign account, Mr Biden wrote “I had some MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS the last couple of weeks, too...” Those announcements include the Respect for Marriage Act, the prisoner swap that brought Brittney Griner home from incarceration in Russia, and falling gas prices.
Mr Biden did not announce his own line of trading cards, which is what Mr Trump did on Thursday morning after teasing a “major announcement” that had political observers speculating about various possibilities related to his bid to reclaim the White House in 2024.
The trading cards, which are priced at $99, are available at collecttrumpcards.com. They depict the former president as a superhero, a racecar driver, a golfer, a law enforcement agent on ranch, and an astronaut.
Mr Trump also announced contests for various prizes including a dinner with him in Miami, a golf game, a meeting, and an array of memorabilia. Those contests, along with his decision to enter the NFT at one of its lowest points since it was launched, provides grist to the theory that Mr Trump is not yet running a serious campaign but is more interested in enriching himself or protecting himself from legal trouble.
Since announcing his presidential bid shortly after the midterm elections in November, Mr Trump has taken few clear steps towards building a renewed campaign infrastructure, holding events, or racking up endorsements.
Republicans have been reticent to rally around Mr Trump, at one point the prohibitive favourite for the party’s 2024 nomination, after so many of his endorsed candidates were defeated in November. Recent polls have increasingly shown Mr Trump trailing Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida in primary contests, with Mr DeSantis and a number of other potential contenders still weighing whether to jump into the race.
Mr Trump is also facing a bevy of potential legal problems relating to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House and his attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. FBI officials searched his Mar-a-Lago residence over the summer, carting out classified documents, while the Justice Department’s investigation of the January 6 insurrection remains ongoing.
Mr Biden, meanwhile, is preparing to enter the second half of his first term after the Democrats achieved one of the best midterm election results for the incumbent president’s party in a century. Mr Biden has indiciated that he is planning to run for re-election in 2024, though that could change in the coming months.
