Newspapers aren’t just throwing Trumpoplectic fits, they’re monetizing them. The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times have all rolled out clothing lines tweaking the new president. The most comic is found at the Post website, which features a T-shirt in rock-concert black emblazoned with the paper’s infamously maudlin and self-aggrandizing new slogan: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” What makes it comedy gold is the disconnect between the dismal message of doom and the decidedly non-gloomy—chipper, even—presentation.
To sell the shirt, the Post has employed a hunky and handsomely hirsute young model. Mr. Beefcake hooks a thumb in the pocket of his jeans before posing, facing first one way then another; ultimately he turns back to look the camera straight in the eye and flashes a Clooney-white smile—because nothing says “Democracy Dies in Darkness” like a bright toothpaste grin.
The L.A. Times offers for sale a couple of different, but equally self-celebratory, graphic tees. One takes the Trumpy title for the press—”Enemy of the People”—and prints it in newspaper gothic. The designer has crossed out “Enemy” as if with a Sharpie, and scribbled in “Defender.” And if that weren’t a bold and brave enough statement, there is a coda at the bottom declaring that the Times is not just the Defender of the People, but also of “a free press.”
Or, if anti-xenophobia is your thing, you can buy a tank-top sticking it to Trump in a dozen foreign tongues. The L.A. Times website offers this “quick overview” of the shirt: “Celebrate our country’s freedom of the press with this flowy women’s tank featuring the phrase ‘We will not shut up.’ in multiple languages. Racerback with ruched detail.” Unfortunately, the Times has exposed itself to accusations of Anglo-centrism by placing the English-language text above all the others. Not cool.
The New York Times website offers a selection of “Truth Buttons.” Who’s to object to the button reading “Truth. It’s more important now than ever”? But as for “Truth. The alternative is a lie,” that’s simply not true (check your Heidegger).
The Chicago Tribune is more restrained—though perhaps problematically so. The text “Speaking truth to power since 1847” is in such small white letters across the chest of the women’s tank-top it has for sale that anyone wishing to read what it says will have to stare uncomfortably. Count on being slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit, or just plain slapped.
