We really shouldn’t be the least bit surprised that Don the Con Trump wants to expand the selling of his crap products. Now he’s trying to force it into the military’s PX/Commissary system. We can only hope stocking Trump Wine (and cider) in some Coast Guard Stores in the DC area was a trial run that didn’t go well enough for Trump to force it into all locations. I shudder to think about word being passed down through the chain of command that his swill (and god knows what else) had better fly off the shelves or there will be be hell to pay.
However, as The Economic Times tells us Trump did, via DHS under which the Coast Guard normally operates stock Trump Wine (and cider) at some locations. The Coast Guard sometimes operates as part of our military, but when it comes to the overall military their pay and benefits, including having a Commissary and/or Post Exchange (PX) at some installations they are part of the same big machine.
The linked article which explains the appearance of these Trump-branded products at Coast Guard exchanges at headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in Centreville, Virginia includes a photo released on Instagram. The person who posted it claimed to be an employee of DHS and requested anonymity. One can only hope Noem has so effed up DHS cyber capability that they aren’t able to ID the person. For damn sure they’d get fired, and Bondi would order Halligan or whomever comes next as U.S. Attorney in the eastern District of Virginia to prosecute! I saw somewhere there was at least one more CG location involved.
My point is that I have NO doubt whatsoever this stunt was conceived and implemented as a proverbial point of entry to have a Trump Section in every PX and Commissary both here and abroad. An injection of grease (which is probably what his wine tastes like) into the gears. However I’m not sure wine was the best way to force Trump-branded crap onto shelves throughout the Armed Forces Exchange System.
As for Hegseth he’s got to be beside himself. I can hear him screaming REAL WARRIORS DON”T DRINK WINE! Then going on to talk about warriors drink beer (enlisted troops) or whiskey/bourbon. “Real Men” drinking by god he’s saying behind closed doors. Wine is for what Hegesth would call wuss soliders like the French or Swiss. He thinks he’s so tough. let him try to take on a career French grunt of someone from it’s Foreign Legion. Or one of the Pope’s Guards, who happen to be Swiss Guards. Don’t let the ridiculous outfits fool you. Like special ops troops whether our own or from any of our allies they can kill you more ways than you know how to die.
Still, this is something to keep an eye on. The linked article, prompted by Forbes’ initial reporting includes some discussion of Trump never ending attempt to expand Trump junk (including consumables like his failed vodka and stead lines – I think MAGAs would buy up Trump Ketchup at fifty bucks a bottle!) and even addresses the ethics issues. The Emoluments Clause seems so quaint now…
Being a veteran with a service related disability I could qualify to go to a Commissary or PX but the closest one is at least an hour away down in Fayetteville. IF Trump winds up forcing the system to include this swill or any other products and has a display set up like the one in the Instagram post in the linked article I’m already thinking about what to do. Perhaps get a friend and fellow veteran who’s liberal like me to take half a day and drive me down there. And in lurching about (I have severe balance issues) if I “accidently” bumped into one and sent everything crashing to the floor my “Oops. Sorry” will sound every bit as insincere as I’d mean it to be.
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I understand that Kegsbreath doesn’t object to drinking wine per se.
He just objects to it being served in glasses.
Relax: if the label in the photograph is correct, the Trumpler wine is “blanc de blanc,” a bubbly made from white grapes, often derided as a “poor man’s champagne.” I can’t see too many burly Coast Guardsmen sharing a bottle over some caviar. Like all Trump products, this one, if left to its own devices, will wither on the vine and quietly die.