Owning the Libs is a cash cow

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The mesh trucker hats, “Bud Right” koozies and “Abolish the FBI” yard signs Republican presidential candidates are feverishly hawking are, on the surface, all about amassing enough small-dollar donors to qualify for the first debate.

But there’s something else revealing about the candidates’ emporiums of red meat. In the modern GOP, owning the libs is what sells.

“Forty years ago, it would’ve been ‘Free Ukraine,’ next to Reagan’s picture,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist. “Freedom and liberty for all is not … the incentive structure in our politics, unfortunately.”

In the merchandising arms race of today, it’s not the economy, stupid. It’s Ron DeSantis’ $37.47 “Build the Wall” trucker hat, Nikki Haley’s “Strong & Proud, Not Weak & Woke” t-shirt or a Perry Johnson “I identify as non-Bidenary” sticker.

Once the “party of new ideas,” the culture wars are the new platform, not simply a plank.

It’s not hard to understand why Republicans are emphasizing cultural issues — not Reagan’s image — in their sales. They’re following the example of a more recent president, who seven years ago turned his red MAGA hat into a ubiquitous symbol of the right. Whole wardrobes materialized in homage to his Hillary Clinton-inspired chants of “Lock her up!”

Then, following his loss in 2020, the GOP was reduced to its status as an opposition party, with branding coming to match. Trump, the twice-indicted former president with a third investigation looming, is selling “Not Guilty” shirts and mugs, while other Republicans are left to capitalize on other perceived offenses of the left.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur, is pushing T-shirts and coffee mugs with the words “transgenderism,” “climatism” and “wokeism” crossed out. And in the era of Barstool politics, you can buy a “Biden, one term… everyone knows the rules” sticker — a play on the macho comedy publisher Barstool’s popular pizza review series — for $12, courtesy of the DeSantis camp. Or an “I stand with Tucker,” hat from Johnson.

Trump’s rivals aren’t going to replace Trump’s appeal to small-dollar donors with a koozie or a clever pin. The former president is the king of small-dollar fundraising in the GOP, as he proved again in the year’s second fundraising quarter.