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Trump goes into bizarre rant about ‘disintegrating’ paper straws, encourages supporters to carry plastic ones

In July 2020, Trump’s campaign raked in almost $500,000 in a single week from selling the “laser engraved” straws that were sold under the President’s brand

Donald Trump has been once again flaunting his re-election campaign by calling out soggy paper straws in a recent rant, where he can be seen speaking highly of plastic straws. His campaign raised an impressive amount of funds by selling Trump-branded recyclable plastic straws in July 2020.

While speaking during a campaign event in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, September 3, Trump addressed the bans on plastic straws. He said, “Has anybody ever tried those paper straws? They are not working right?” In the following statements, Trump explains that he has eaten a couple of times from fast-food joints such as MacDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King, where they use plastic plates spoons, and forks. 

Pointing at this he further states sarcastically, “Oh, they are okay. But the straws, we got to ban”. As the crowd of supporters bursts into laughter, he goes on to say, “Has anybody ever tried, seriously, the new straws? It’s made out of paper, right? It disintegrates as you drink it.” Before making the next statement, he takes the blue tie that he was wearing in the hand and says, “If you have a nice tie like this tie, this would have no chance. By the time you get finished, the straw is totally disintegrated.”

He further encourages the crowd to walk around with a plastic straw as “It’s not bad, you whip it out, boom boom. You never had to do that.” In July 2020, Trump’s campaign raked in almost $500,000 in a single week from selling the “laser engraved” straws that were sold under the President’s brand. The campaign came into being after its manager Brad Parscale had an unpleasant experience with a paper straw while on a plane to Florida. 

According to reports by Politico, Parscale was irked when a paper straw that he was using on the plane tore, after which he took to Twitter to express his disappointment in them. However, his wife reportedly told him to not leave it at that. Therefore, Parscale sent out an email while still in the air, proposing the idea of selling plastic Trump straws. The subject line read, “Making straws great again.” The production of the straws was reportedly underway by the time he landed and the first batch even sold out “within hours”. A pack ten nine-inch-long straws costs $15 with a delivery fee of $5.06 to New York City according to The Guardian. They are available for sale on the US president's official campaign website. You can purchase 250 straws at the price of $9.99 on Amazon.

POTUS’ initiative even garnered the appreciation of the Democrats. Commenting on his plastic straws, top Democratic digital strategist Tara McGowan reportedly said, “I think something Trump has always understood very clearly is how to tap into a cultural moment or zeitgeist and leverage it to his advantage. So for him, taking a relatively new thing in the world that most people hate (paper straws) and leveraging it to both make a political statement and raise [hundreds of thousands] of dollars by selling plastic straws is both brilliant and sinister,” according to Politico.