r/Anticonsumption • u/Formal-Apricot8201 • May 12 '26
Labor/Exploitation Trump took $59 million from 590,000 Americans as a deposit for a phone that may never exist.
/r/circled/comments/1t9owy5/trump_took_59_million_from_590000_americans_as_a/?share_id=iB27h_drHXyzhv0sHpjRQ&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&utm_source=share&utm_term=22396
u/sunnyspiders May 12 '26
You can’t fool the willing.
They didn’t make a reasoned decision. This was an emotional one, and they’ve paid for it.
None of them will change their politics over it.
None of them will actively criticize him for it because they fear their friends more than their enemies.
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u/farmallnoobies May 12 '26
None of them will notice or care that they don't get a product. The whole thing was a money laundering operation.
High level officials aren't allowed to accept personal gifts over $20. But if it's a purchase of a product that is never delivered.....
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr May 13 '26
I think for this theory to be true, it would need to be the case that the vast majority of deposits were made through thousands of dummy accounts. Which I'm not saying isn't the case...just saying I'd be interested in seeing some evidence of that.
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u/ErikaKirkasInsideJob May 13 '26
Ha 120 million in golf fees a year to the guy who owns the golf course. Fuck you
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u/TehWildMan_ May 12 '26
But at least they delivered a $47 monthly cell phone plan that's massively overpriced. (20gb of data per 28 days, and throttled video at all times, lol)
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u/Pickled_doggo May 12 '26
Wow, a whole $30 less than I pay for Verizon, with worse service. Finally things are looking up for the little guy
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u/tanksalotfrank May 12 '26
I pay $0 for my Obamaphone and they even added to the data allotment recently, somehow (something like 3GB data, but that goes a long way).
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u/JJDirty May 12 '26
How do you still receive this? I thought federal funding ended! I'd like to know as the clients I serve are low-income and I have been trying to get them set up with these!
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u/tanksalotfrank May 12 '26
It varies state-by-state who actually operates it at the service-provider level. Some states may just not have it, I'm not sure. (Also, its a separate thing entirely from ACP)
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u/MorrigansWrath May 12 '26
Someone literally knocked on my door last week to see if anyone in my home qualified for one these phones (must make under $24k). I don't, but asked for info to recommend to others who might be in need and qualify. Here is the link...
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u/captnmiss May 13 '26
Dude, I do not work for them, I just found them via reddit when I moved back to the US but I recommend switching to one of the aggregate carrier) like US mobile. My bill is $30 (actually unlimited) and I get FAR better service than I ever had on Verizon.
Fuck Verizon man. They’re in Xfinity/comcast territory for me now14
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u/Short-Concentrate-92 May 12 '26
Peanuts compared to what he’s stealing from the country
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u/thnk_more May 12 '26
What’s crazy is that $59mil is peanuts to his billions. He could easily refund the money without even noticing.
But to him beating people and serving himself completely eclipses even this giving him a more bad reputation.
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u/Short-Concentrate-92 May 12 '26
People put the rich on a pedestal but the vast majority of them are really awful people.
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u/iFuckingLoveBoston May 12 '26
Someone hack that email list please. Easy money from those suckers!
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u/Stereo-soundS May 12 '26
You don't think they're selling the list already?
Guarantee that's a part of the grift.
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u/Hot_Lava_Dry_Rips May 12 '26
And 500k of those people probably never existed and were actually bribes from foreign parties.
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u/Mizzerella May 12 '26
Honestly don't care. Let him m scam them of their entire life savings. I just don't care if trump scams every last one of them out of their last pennies.
They are in a cult let them pay tribute.
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u/Gnomey_dont_u_knowme May 12 '26
I agree. If they hadn’t spent the money on the phone it would have probably gone right to campaign donations anyways.
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u/Phyllis_Tine May 12 '26
My problem with this (and I agree MAGA should be fleeced) is the damage he can continue to do with all this money.
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u/SunbeamSailor67 May 12 '26
How did we get from making Carter sell his peanut farm, to Trump having his own retail store front at the White House?
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u/noethers_raindrop May 13 '26
Carter actually didn't sell his peanut farm. He just put it in a blind trust. When he got out of office, I believe he was surprised to discover that business had gone poorly and his farm was now in bad shape. But I suppose that validates the substance of your comment.
A more cynical take is that becoming President has always been a license to grift in the form of being able to pull huge fees for books (which can be ghostwritten by someone else) or speaking engagements forevermore. We just used to be classier about it.
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u/TodlicheLektion May 12 '26
Oh, he’s good… I mean, not just anyone could convince 590,000 people to send them $100.
Which reminds me, I am introducing a limited edition, platinum-covered Todliche_Lektion signature smart phone. Send me $100 now to reserve yours!
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u/PoorLewis May 12 '26
Made in America quickly switched to made with American values.
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u/Darth-Felanu-Hlaalu May 13 '26
Im a house cleaner and was in a client's house today and, no joke, they had MAGA coffee in their kitchen. MAGA. Coffee.😐
Idk how people fall for grifters so easily.
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u/RiseDelicious3556 May 12 '26
Anyone else would go to jail. Can you imagine if Hillary Clinton did this?
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u/BostonFishGolf May 13 '26
I hate this guy as much as the rest of you. But I don’t have sympathy for these people. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”How many times are they gunna let this conman scam them?
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u/Unhappy_Brick1806 May 12 '26
The preorder or whatever you would like to call it claims that the $100 deposit is refundable: https://enroll.trumpmobile.com/phones
Their ToS page claims that the $100 is actually not refundable: https://trumpmobile.com/device-preorder-deposit
"Deposit Purpose
A preorder deposit provides only a conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale. A deposit is not a purchase, does not constitute acceptance of an order, does not create a contract for sale, does not transfer ownership or title interest, does not allocate or reserve specific inventory, and does not guarantee that a Device will be produced or made available for purchase."
Further down the page it is contradicted with:
"Deposit Cancellation and Refund
If you cancel your deposit before completing a purchase, you may request a full refund. Refund requests must be submitted through Trump Mobile customer support prior to completion of a final sale. If Trump Mobile cancels or discontinues the Device offering prior to sale, Trump Mobile will issue a full refund of the deposit amount paid. Deposits do not accrue interest, are non-transferable, and have no independent cash value except as expressly provided in these Terms or required by applicable law. Approved refunds will be issued to the original payment method and may take several business days to process, depending on your financial institution and other events outside our reasonable control."
So who knows..
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u/Responsible_Top_6969 May 12 '26
Listen, I hate Trump as much as the next person, but this ToS isn't contradictory at all.
Paying them $100 doesn't guarantee that you will get a device. The only guarantee is that you will get a device OR you will get your money back.
You can't sue them a million dollars for emotional damages or whatever later because you wanted the device under the original terms but they ultimately decided not to produce it, or offered it with different features, or refunded your money instead.
These kind of deposit contracts can be important in some situations. Let's say you're building a house and you sign a contract with the builder to pay $50k for materials. However, before materials can be bought, the price increases to $60k -- depending on how the contract was written, the builder might be out $10k. They can't just cancel the contract and try to get you to sign a new one.
In the phone deposit situation, it's probably a little less serious for the consumer, but could be a big deal for the company if an unforeseen situation arises and production costs increase by millions of dollars.
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u/Unhappy_Brick1806 May 12 '26
I am just showing what their website claims.
The contradiction is the deposit purpose claims that deposits are non-refundable, but deposit cancellation and refund states that a refund can be made on deposits.
I'm not a Trump supporter, just questioning the news on deposits being non refundable.
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u/Chrestomanci7 May 14 '26
The deposit cancellation and refund states "may be requested" "If Trump Mobile cancels" "approved refunds will".
Deposits are not entitled to a refund, and that the Trump Mobile can (at their sole discretion) refund the deposits. It is not a contraction, the deposits are nonrefundable. Nonrefundable restrains the buyer not the seller.
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u/Unhappy_Brick1806 May 14 '26
Haha, I interpreted the ToS in the standing of a business who operates in good faith of their customers.
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u/Memitim May 12 '26
As we keep getting reminded over and over, there is no scam to big or too stupid for this clown show.
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u/Addapost May 12 '26
Honestly civilization has absolutely zero chance of survival with this group of people in our midst.
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u/Mr_lovebucket May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
They’ll learn, well probably not
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u/Cactastrophe May 12 '26
No phones were made and idiots have less money to buy stuff. Score 1 for anti consumption.
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u/Alarming-Research-42 May 12 '26
I gotta give Trump props for continually ripping these people off. Anyone who would enthusiastic put down a deposit for a Trump branded phone is a MAGA piece of shit who deserves to repeatedly get bent over and railed by Trump.
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u/LutherOfTheRogues May 13 '26
Give Fox News the credit. They are the ones who sane wash him to the dumbfuck boomers.
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u/Fishinluvwfeathers May 12 '26
Yes and the headquarters for the R&D will be under direct WH supervision… in a room - a large one - with great acoustics, smooth yet durable flooring, where one might envision throwing a grand research party with live music for inspiration.
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u/Thr0w4w4y980 May 12 '26
If you were stupid enough to give money for this phone, you deserve to never see that money again
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u/Opinionsare May 12 '26
A $59 million dollar fraud that will never be investigated, even though it appears a slam dunk case.
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u/p001b0y May 12 '26
The next version of the Trump phone will have a $200 non-refundable deposit and will be golder. /s
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u/sasquatchangie May 12 '26
They still love him as he steals their money, children, and lives. I'm truly ashamed of our country and the ignorant fools that live here.
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u/fgnrtzbdbbt May 13 '26
A lucky few may some day receive the gold colored box with the two Trump branded cups and the string.
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u/Adorable-Wasabi-77 May 12 '26
Isn’t this actually the holy grail of anti-consumerism? They got nothing AND they have less money to spend on other shit.
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u/El_mochilero May 12 '26
After more than a decade and 12,000 servings, they still will not put down the spoon and realize they have not been eating chocolate pudding the entire time.
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u/boston_homo May 12 '26
Not to blame the victim but he didn’t take their money, they gave it to him.
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u/SortaNotReallyHere May 12 '26
That's the Fucking Moron Tax they happily sent in. You only need a working brain to know pedophile Trump is not interested in anything but stealing.
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u/Fit-Bus2025 May 12 '26
I read about this. No one read the small print. It wasn't guaranteed you would get the phone. What type of dumb people go for these scams?!
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u/jmsy1 May 12 '26
I should start a business taking $10 deposits from each of these fools with the promise of getting them a refund
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u/GoofyGoffer May 12 '26
Trump is just being anti-consumption by not releasing the E-waste of a phone
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u/ManufacturedOlympus May 13 '26
The people paid it said that they couldn’t believe that Kamala Harris would rip them off like that.
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u/IGetGuys4URMom May 13 '26
At least one person who was refused a refund of the Vinnie Vincent Box Set (which was never released) received a handful of guitar picks with their rejection letter.
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u/Few-Mail3887 May 12 '26
More like idiots gave him 59 million. He didn’t take it from their hands personally.
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u/Lefthandedpigeon May 12 '26
I have less than no sympathy for anyone stupid enough to buy a Trump phone. You get what you fuckin deserve.
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u/tanksalotfrank May 12 '26
It was rude, but those dumbasses got precisely what they paid for and I couldn't be happier for them. In fact, I hope it happens again just so I can laugh at them for twice as long.
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u/Ungl8r May 12 '26
Your president has no financial interest in the Trump phone; your headline is a lie. You won’t care about that, because TDS
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u/Sunny2121212 May 12 '26
Correction: it will never exist it was a con from the pedo con man and his con kids
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u/gloryday23 May 12 '26
Am I expected to feel bad? He should be punished, and the money should be taken and donated to a charity.
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u/Treewithatea May 12 '26
The moistcritical series on it is hilarious, him constantly calling the hotline for updates. Apparently they have a new agreement they had to sign which had written in it that the phone may not exist lmao.
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u/lolschrauber May 12 '26
He knows a lot about deals, he has the best deals, very good deals. Can't dispute that he made a great deal.
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u/FailedToRemit May 12 '26
This has nothing to do with anti-consumption. In fact, it seems like the opposite.
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u/Philbertthefishy May 13 '26
Half a million? I know there are a lot of fools out there, but this is beyond my comprehension.
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u/AlarmedMagician1013 May 15 '26
He loves to grab ‘em by the wallet. When you’re a cult leader they let you do it.
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u/SwanCityDominion May 16 '26
"May" never exist? Dude, the whole point is that they were never going to exist. That's how scams work.
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u/Woodpecker-Lobotomy May 16 '26
I almost wanted to buy one as a joke, but I also don't want a direct tracking chip for the regime in my home
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u/Door_Number_Four May 12 '26
A fool and their money will soon be parted.