Gun control advocate David Hogg has found a clever way to capitalize on Donald Trump’s newly launched sneakers.
Trump unveiled the garish kicks on Saturday at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which his fans can find at gettrumpsneakers.com. If the website name seems a bit awkwardly named, it may be because Hogg quickly snapped up the more obvious choice: shoptrumpsneakers.com.
Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting and a co-founder of the gun control advocacy group March for Our Lives, announced his purchase on Saturday. The URL leads to a page called The Shotline, which Hogg explained allows people to send an automated call to their member of Congress urging gun law reform.
“The twist is the person who makes the call is a victim of gun violence,” Hogg said. The website uses AI technology to recreate the victims’ voices for the automated call.
As of Tuesday, almost 72,000 calls have been sent through The Shotline.
“Thank you to team trump for being dumb enough to not pay the $12 for the website,” Hogg tweeted Monday night, celebrating the website’s success. “I’ll give it to you for a small donation of $1 million dollars to March For Our Lives.”
Trump launched his sneaker line the day after he was hit with a $354 million ruling for committing real estate-related financial fraud in New York state. Before he can appeal the ruling, Trump would first have to pay the entire amount plus interest, which could add as much as an additional $100 million.
Not to mention the fact that Trump owes $88.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for sexual assault and defamation, $400,000 to The New York Times, and thousands of dollars in other legal fees and fines. That’s a lot of sneakers.
Trump has positioned himself as staunchly anti-gun control. Just two weeks ago, he spoke at an event organized by the National Rifle Association. The NRA was a major supporter of Trump during his first term, and the group appears ready for a second act.
The former president swore that if he is elected, he will immediately undo all of the Biden administration’s gun regulations.
“Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day,” Trump told the crowd, promising that “no one will lay a finger on your firearms.”