Shoppers in Trump Tower on Monday were probably more than a little confused when they saw Ku Klux Klan hoods, pee-resistant sheets, and Vladimir Putin postcards for sale amid the myriad of other President Donald Trump-branded merchandise.
Two pranksters slipped the items—all referencing various scandals, mishaps, and rumors swirling amid the president’s first few months in office—in the official gift shop of Trump Tower in Manhattan, according to Gothamist.
Next to the T-shirts, mugs, “Make America Great Again” shirts, and other tacky chachkies, shoppers found Trump-emblazoned “one-size-fits-all” KKK hoods (marketed for very “fine people” to show their “pride,” a reference to the president’s much-criticized response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia), packages with pee-proof rubber sheets (an obvious nod to the infamous alleged “pee tape”), and a Russian flag.
Postcards displayed in the store showed Putin, Russia’s president, as the “45th President of the United States” and called Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, the “first lady.”
“We thought the tourists coming in to buy some stuff, especially people from other countries, should get the whole story of who the president is because the items in the Trump store don’t accurately reflect the person,” one of the artists behind the prank, who wished to remain anonymous, told Gothamist.
The website reports that the fake merchandise was hidden in between real things people could buy such as cufflinks for $45, a gold-painted coin bank for $20, golf towels and putter covers for $30, and a muscular bobble head that look’s like the president for $40.
On Tuesday morning, a reporter from the website attempted to buy some of the newly introduced fake merch and quickly ordered them to get out of the store. An hour later, the fake merch was gone, Gothamist reported.
You can read all of Gothamist’s report here.