Former President Donald Trump’s Sneaker Venture Trolled by Parkland Survivor

Donald Trump’s recent foray into the world of sneakers has had its share of critics, but none were as dedicated to trolling him as Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg. Hogg is the leader of an activist group that wants to see young people elected to Congress. Let’s see how he trolled the former president’s sneaker brand.

Trump’s Sneaker Foray

The object of Hogg’s trolling was a fancy set of sneakers that Trump offered for sale. The sneakers, which range in price from $199 to $399, were designed by the former president, and the profits will be used to pay for his legal representation.

Dubbed the “Never Surrender High Tops,” the shoe is decorated in gold, with a black T across the tongue. According to reports, the shoe has already sold out, meaning that there is a lot of demand for the sneaker.

Finding a Weakness

On realizing that Trump was selling this shoe, Hogg quickly did some online research. It turned out that no one in Trump’s company or the marketing department for the shoe had bothered to buy the domain “shoptrumpsneakers.com.”

Quickly, Hogg bought the domain and registered it, announcing his purchase on Twitter/X. Some people who buy domains like these do it to resell it to the original company at a markup. In this case, Hogg had something else planned.

Redirected To Something That Matters

Hogg’s next step in putting a spoke in Trump’s wheel was to redirect any visitors to the domain he bought to a website that they could email their Congressperson. The site focuses on gun control legislation and encourages visitors to send their congressperson an email through the portal.

Moreover, the voice that does the redirection is recreated via AI. It’s the actual voice of a person who died from gun violence. This is a slap in the face for Trump, whose stance on gun control is that it’s not needed in the US.

Not the Only Marketing Ploy; Simply the Latest

Trump’s sneaker sales might seem like a strange thing for a self-proclaimed rich person to do to pay legal fees, but the sneakers are not the only marketing he’s done. Recently, he launched a perfume line called Victory 47 that he expects his rabid fans to buy.

The perfume comes in both his and her scents and has a gold stopper designed to mimic the former president’s signature hairdo. These sales are all going toward paying for Trump’s legal fees, and he’s gotten quite a lot of them over the last few years.

Already Convicted Of Several Counts

The sneakers were officially released at SneakerCon on Sunday. The release comes hot on the heels of a conviction in New York for fraud. Trump conspired with other people to misrepresent his net worth to the State, and he owes $350 million plus interest in fines for his part in the scheme.

His fraud case isn’t the only one that’s cutting into his bottom line, either. A previous conviction for defamation is also hanging over his head. Trump was convicted of the charge of lying about his sexual assault of author E Jean Carroll repeatedly during the 1990s. That settlement will cost him a further $83.3 million.

No Response From Trump About Hogg’s Site

Neither Trump nor his marketing department dealing with the sneakers has addressed Hogg’s purchase of the site. It’s not certain whether they even know or care that he bought the site from under them. They have continued to advertise the sneakers, both online and through other ads.

Hogg stated that he was pleased with the outcome of his coup. While he himself may not have been able to do it on his own, he’s got an entire crew of intelligent people who could help him with the web coding, AI integration and redirection that’s needed to make his dream a reality.

Pretty Decent Numbers

According to statistics released by Hogg, the site has been doing well, with 58,362 calls redirected since last month. The site offers the AI-reconstituted voices of six victims of gun violence, enter their zip codes, and send those recordings to their congressperson.

The website states that 43,036 gun violence deaths occurred in 2023. To date, in 2024, over 5,000 people have died from gun violence. Hogg himself is a survivor of a particularly brutal school shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018.

Republicans Have Historically Been Against Gun Control

The redirection is a poignant statement about the Republican stance on gun control. Trump himself has been opposed to gun control, and one of the pillars of his election campaign was that he would ensure his supporters would have the right to bear arms.

The GOP’s rhetoric has been around the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which allows citizens the right to bear arms. They argue that gun control denies this right and is unconstitutional. Opponents like Hogg believe that gun control is the only way to curb mass shooting deaths.

A Problem Of Massive Proportions

In 2023, there were more than 600 mass shootings throughout the US. Gun control proponents note that many of these occurred because of how easy it was to get access to firearms on the open market. In some cases, people would buy guns and not even have to file paperwork for them.

But is total gun control the answer to this problem? Some activists, such as Hogg, argue that gun control is the only solution. Yet others take a more measured stance and point out that it’s mostly a problem with enforcement. The laws exist, but there just has to be more accountability for sales.

Trump’s Legal Problems Probably Won’t be Solved with Sneakers

While Hogg’s website is a great political statement, it won’t make much of a dent in Trump’s attempts to pay off his fines. The sneakers are just one of the many ways the former president is frantically searching for money so he doesn’t have to touch his supposed massive net worth.

The convictions in New York State are just a few of the many legal woes that Donald Trump is currently facing. Members of his own party have filed a motion to ensure that he doesn’t end up on the ballots for the GOP primaries in some states. Sneakers can’t solve those problems, no matter how expensive they are.