Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign releases hypocritical ‘pride’ merchandise

President Donald Trump’s campaign is sparking criticism after introducing new LGBTQI Pride merchandise through its website.

Despite three years of undermining the rights of LGBTQI individuals in America, his reelection campaign’s is now selling rainbow-themed “Make America Great Again” apparel to endorse homosexual “pride,” as first reported by NewNowNext.

The “Make America Great Again Pride Hat“, which is currently sold out, and “Make America Great Again Pride Tee” display Trump’s campaign slogan in rainbow colours to “Show your support for the LGBT community and the 45th President,” according to the product descriptions.

Trump claims to cares about the LGBTQI community, having previously affirmed his commitment to upholding the rights LGBTQI people in America, and across the Globe.

“As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognise the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals….,” he Tweeted.

However, this pride-pandering is hypocritical given Trump’s lengthy record of completely undermining LGBTQI rights.

In July 2017, Trump announced on Twitter that he would be introducing a ban on transgender people serving in the US military “in any capacity”.

“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,” he wrote.

Then in April this year, the trans military ban came into effect, pushing countless trans people out of the military, and likely forcing many more to live in the wrong gender to keep their jobs.

Research conducted by the Sunlight Foundation’s Web Integrity Project (WIP), an organisation that monitors “changes to government websites” has also shown that LGBTQI data and resource information has been disappearing from government websites under the Trump Administration.

Furthermore, many federal departments have violated the rights of LGBTQI people under the Trump administration. Earlier in August, the Department of Justice filed a brief in the lead-up to a Supreme Court hearing on anti-LGBTQI discrimination in the workplace which claimed that “sex stereotyping by itself is not a Title VII violation” – essentially allowing employers to fire transgender workers because of their gender identity.

Needless to say, Trump’s pandering to LGBTQI pride has raised many cackles on the Twittersphere.

“Trump selling ‘Pride’ t-shirts when his very administration attacks LGBTQ people on the daily,” one person tweeted.

“It’s like we are all in the damn Twilight Zone.”

This is not the first time the Trump campaign has been criticised as “hypocritical” for selling LGBTQI merchandise. Earlier in May, around the beginning of LGBTQI Pride month, the campaign unveiled another white T-shirt with a rainbow flag that read “LGBTQ for Trump.” Journalists, including Buzzfeed’s David Mack, quickly took to Twitter to express their outrage.

“Trump — who banned trans troops, is against LGBT employment protections, wants ppl to be able to turn away LGBT customers, & is denying citizenship to kids of US gay couples born out of wedlock — is selling LGBTQ for Trump shirts for Pride,” Mack Tweeted.