By Dominic Taylor-
A group of college students are selling many of Trump’s popular tweets as non-fungible tokens, and donating the proceeds to “charities he hates,” such as NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Trump was known for his regular tweets during his time as president, many of which were used to intimidate or ridicule those he did not like. The former president was suspended from twitter a few times for unacceptable statements, then later re-instated.
He was eventually banned from twitter during the final weeks of his time in office, after he continued to spread rumours claiming the U.S election was stolen from him.
His tweets often made news headlines because of the unpredictable nature of its contents, and the fact it could be directed at practically anybody.
In April, Theodore Horn, Jackie Ni and Jason Yu co-founded the website Drumpfs as part of a company called Strategic Meme Group (SMG). Horn described the company as “Gen Z art and political technology studio trying to shift the political culture of America through our work.”
Drumpf refers to Trump’s ancestral name, which John Oliver highlighted on a 2016 segment of “Last Week Tonight.” So far, Horn said he’s collected roughly 46,000 of Trump’s tweets, raising more than $6,000 for charitable organizations.
“I’d say we’ve got 99% of them,” Horn told NowThis. “Most of his political tweets are all there.”
After the group started MemePAC in 2020, Horn said SMG was searching for another political technology project, and was inspired to start Drumpfs after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for more than $2.9 million in March.
Each tweet is chronologically divided into different categories, such as “infamous,” “deleted,” and “flagged” posts. They date back from before Trump was elected president up until his final post before being permanently banned from the platform on Jan. 8 for inciting the Capitol riots.
The tweets apparently have a standard rate of .0232 Ethereum, or about $63.28. Tweets priced higher, such as Trump’s final post declaring he wouldn’t be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration, sold for 4.5 Ethereum, or about $12,232.
Each NFT of the tweets also includes corresponding graphic art. Some of the tweets go for a higher price such as Trump’s final post declaring he wouldn’t be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration. That particular post sold for 4.5 Ethereum, or about $12,232.
All other tweets are selling for .0232 Ethereum, or about $63.28. Each NFT of the tweets also contains corresponding graphic art.
Horn explained that SMG donates to charities based on the context of the tweet. For example, if a tweet includes the phrases “Kung Flu” or “China Virus,” the profits are donated to Asian American Mental Health Collective.
Sales from tweets regarding democracy or the 2020 election will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union. Furthermore, any tweets where Trump rants about “FAKES NEWS,” (and let’s be honest, there were many) those proceeds go to American Journalism Project.