DON MIND IF I DO!
Hillary voters get a surprise Trump bump — selling merchandise to the resistance
I voted for Hillary, but I’m almost happy that Trump won. It’s given me a new economic opportunity. — Vendor Paul Rossen
While campaigning to be president of the United States, Donald Trump promised to create jobs. But this is probably not what he had in mind.
Liberal New Yorkers are making bank selling anti-Trump merchan- dise at protests. And they’re suddenly not as upset over Hillary’s Clinton’s loss.
“I voted for Hillary, but I’m almost happy that Trump won,” said Manhattanite Paul Rossen, 55, “It’s given me a new economic opportunity.”
Rossen is a player in the city’s new protest economy — one of several vendors who show up at marches and demonstrations hawking hats, shirts, flags and other resistance-chic accoutrements. He even sells his self-made buttons, which depict the president as a pile of feces and Adolf Hitler, on Fifth Avenue across from Trump Tower. And it can be a lucrative hustle. Rossen said that he has grossed $1,000 during a single day. He began selling the buttons before the election and admitted, “I thought it would end once Hillary won.” Another self-employed vendor, Sharon John, told The Post, “I sold 500 anti-Trump buttons in just one day at the Women’s March [in January].” This past Wednesday the 60year-old set up a table peddling flags, “pussy hats” and “Not My President” badges at the International Women’s Day strike in Washington Square Park. Six months ago, however, John was making money off the candidate she voted for: Hillary Clinton. The Harlem resident hopped on a Greyhound bus and “followed [Clinton] to towns in Virginia and Chapel Hill and Charlotte [in North Carolina]” selling merch. Still, neither politician has proven as lucrative as John’s top mover. “I made $7,000 selling [Pope Francis] things in three days,” she said of the pontiff’s 2015 visit to New York City.
During the Women’s March, chain stores even got in on the political action, with electronics retailer Best Buy selling portable phone chargers outside of its Fifth Avenue store, located on the march route.
Also reaping the benefits of the Trump administration is John Carney, 59, of Manhattan. An out-of-work media consultant, he makes ends meet by engaging in what he calls “entrepreneurial activism.” Carney uses Photoshop and the Face Swap app to create high-concept anti-Trump buttons. One, riffing on a Stalin-era Soviet propaganda poster, shows Trump as a baby being hoisted up by Putin.
Generally, the merchants spend about 50 cents per button — then sell them for $5 a pop.
“There’s nothing wrong with capitalism,” said Rossen.
And he’s not above selling his soul, should the opportunity arise: “If Trump’s supporters wanted to buy buttons favoring him, I would sell those.”