• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, March 12, 2025

By now, much has been made of our president ceding the driveway of the People’s House to a couple of standing Musks and five parked Teslas last Tuesday. It was an unexpected, ad hoc ad scene over which he presided with a TV host’s energy.   

Of course, the act “stretched the bounds of what is ethical,” according to the Washington Post.

But I didn’t find it so weird. He’s a showman, after all.

 “It’s a great product!”  Trump declared about the cars, even though he has inveighed against EVs (electric -- and Elon’s -- vehicles) for the past eight years.

Still committing to the bit, DJT wedged himself inside the little red Tesla, and seemed to discover the future in its dashboard.

“Everything’s computer!” the wowed consumer exclaimed after exiting the car.

I will say that as a spot, it was not well shot, saturated with the kind of annoyingly bright sunshine that makes little kids squirm and everyone squint.  Sun-wise, only Elon seemed prepared, sporting dark aviators and his extra-large black MAGA hat worn high on his head. It’s a signature look, perhaps airing out his hair, but it also bears a hint of Elmer Fudd in the tilt of the bill.

But now that DJT has made this breakthrough, allowing for advertising in an otherwise private federal area, it’s natural for other brands to follow.

For instance, a readymade billboard could roll into that space with ease.

My thoughts immediately went to that 60-foot horizontal Kim Kardashian blowup doll that occupied Times Square for two days last week, promoting her company’s (Skims) new Swim line.

 Lying on her side in a tiny turquoise bikini, her face obscured and her enormous pneumatic breasts doing most of the work, this piece was unapologetically built on Kim’s body, which she has worked hard on in real life, and, without embarrassment, has signed over to serve as the Skims insignia and brand ambassador.  

Still, onlookers didn’t know quite what to make of its oversized frankness: was this visual in this spirit of the old smutty Times Square, or the new sparkling Disney one?

Still, passersby seemed happy to pose with her, whether to goof or gloat.

That’s where Kim has introduced something new to the culture -- an ability to treat her naked body as nothing more than enhanced AI, a sparkling product for sale from which she can disassociate.

 But there’s a history between Trump and Kim K, as she interacted in the flesh with him during his first administration. She went to the White House to discuss criminal justice and prison reform, bringing attention to his recent action, commuting the sentences of three women of color who were unfairly imprisoned.

These days, it’s hard to believe that Trump made those moves. That was solid statesmanship on both sides.

The difference between them? After reducing the justice warrior in her (back then, she’d said she was going to law school) to a gigantic micro-bikinied body, Kim Kardashian is making hundreds of millions.  

And when it comes to selling eponymous products infused with his spirit, let’s give credit where it’s due. Trump has built an empire on which the sun never sets.

With so many rules of the past thrown to the wayside these days, you’d think that the Prez would want to promote his own merch.

Among hundreds of products sold under at least 20 different categories online at the Trump store, nothing shouts MAGA more literally than his various offerings of hats and clothing. He could modernize his red-tie-blue-suit look, which is getting old, by substituting a simple Trump T-shirt from his collection ($35) bearing the message “Keeping the American Dream Alive” in elaborate script. 

Now that he’s paved the way, the president could wear that encouraging message under a dark jacket and don the $55 oversized “Dark MAGA Hat,” perhaps with some dark pants and aviators as an incidental promotion while holding press conferences in that same driveway space.  

He wouldn’t need the Teslas in the background this time, of course… but hey, wait a minute!