Like many in the world of politics, I like to collect political bric a brac. Official Trump gear, like the hats, are commonplace these days, so you have to go to the entrepreneurs of America to get the really good stuff.
Which is why when I saw that somebody was selling a gold-colored Donald Trump emblazoned knife on Amazon, I had to have it. Shut up and take my money.
The description of the knife reads: “9” GOLD HEAVY DUTY Tanto Blade TRUMP 2016 Commemorative Limited Edition Pocket Knife It’s AMAZING!” The knife’s seller isn’t lying, the knife is amazing. For about $15, this is perhaps the classiest knife one can have nowadays.
Posting pictures of the knife, which came in a few days, on social media drew a lot of commentary from my friends and elicited worry from my wife: “You’re not bringing it to the convention, are you?”
I told her no, but it does have a glass breaker on the base of the handle in case you need to escape from a burning car — which might be helpful during the expected riots next week at the RNC convention in Cleveland. This memento will have to stay home, as security will be tight and knives aren’t allowed.
The most frequent comment was that the knife itself was made in China. And given Trump’s trade-skeptic rhetoric on dealings with China, perhaps was a bit ironic. One man who purchased the knife commented “VERY COOL, THE TYPICAL GOLD FINISH OF THE TRUMP LINE, TOP QUALITY, MADE IN THE USA.”
A better way of putting it would be that value was added in America, like a t-shirt that was imported by a local business with a screen printer.
It’s genius, really, the idea of a gold Trump knife. The Trump obsession with gold, combined with a southern male love of knives, and you’ve got a winning product.
Doubtful that some bleeding heart liberal would be hawking branded weapons on the Internet, I decided to track down the seller of the knife to see what his thoughts were on Trump.
Michael King has been selling knives and other engraved products through King Enterprises in Vancouver, Washington for a number of years. Is he supporting Trump? “Oh yeah!!”, he tells me. “I’m a businessman. He’s making me money, how can I not like him?”
“I buy blanks of anything then try to come up with a different design or logo to differentiate yourself from the market, because then, anybody can buy that same knife and you’re fighting over quarters. If you’ve got the ability to, like I do, with the laser to come up with a unique design at least for a period of time until China starts mass producing the thing, you know. That’s just the way it is, the Trump thing’s good because, it’s all gold, it kind of makes sense you know, it kind of fits the logo looks good on there.”
A good promoter, King tells me, with a laugh, that “I tweeted that knife to him asking if he wanted me to send him one and he never responded.” Not a bad strategy, since Trump often retweets messages from supporters seemingly at random.
But what about China? I asked King about Trump and his views on trade and China, and how that might impact his business if Trump were to win and get his way.
“It could be harmful, it could very potentially change the dynamics of what I’m importing or exporting. How we bring it in. Thing is, it’s a game, so if it’s cheaper to be done here you do it here, if it’s cheaper to be done there you do it there. You know, there are certain things, I think with Trump, most of what misconstrue, is he just wants to make a level playing field, they’re gonna charge tariffs on certain goods of ours, and we should be charging tariffs on certain goods of theirs. And I think that’s what most people don’t get in his argument, and most people try to blanket statement him and say everything’s gonna be tariffed so we can bring manufacturing back, and that’s not it. I mean, there’s a lot of things we can not even import [sic] into China because of the amount of money they make that’s paid to get it there. Or they don’t even allow it. It’s interesting, like, these kinds of knives, I mean a fix-blade knife in China is illegal. A stun gun flashlight, that’s a very popular item here, illegal in China. Even though they produce them, if you try to import them from there and they get inspected in like say customs or something in China/Hong Kong, they’re getting seized. So it’s kind of funny. It’s a weird world, you know.”
A weird world indeed, but a lucrative one for Michael King. That is, until somebody in China decides to flood the market with mass-produced Donald Trump golden knives.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly called the knife a switchblade knife. While similar in style, it is an assisted opening knife.
