The owner of a South Carolina Trump merch store called “Keep on Trumpin” says he has no choice but to do exactly that, but at higher prices, Palmetto Politics reports in a story that was printed on Wednesday before the Orange God Emperor imposed what’s now a 54 percent tariff on Chinese manufactured goods, which is probably like fucking everything in the store.
“As we go further into the summer, it could end up being a 10 to 15 percent increase for us,” said Rick Kligman on Monday, low-balling how bad it was going to be for him and the stupid bullshit that he hawks, like the “Make Your Garden Great Again.” gnome. Kligman adds he “won’t have any real choice in the matter” of whether to raise prices on his cult customers. “We’ll have to, but we’ll try to swallow some of it on our end,” he continued, probably lying, but still signaling his “patriotism.”
“We don’t want to be too dramatic,” Kligman then said. Lol. Another interviewee, Israeli immigrant Viktor Ilus, who in 2012 opened “The Dixie Shop” in Myrtle Beach, which sells Confederate battle flags next to cardboard cutouts of Trump and Jaydee Vance, was unintentionally prescient, saying it’d be fine if his suppliers jacked prices up by 10 percent. “That’s not going to affect nobody,” Ilus said. Palmetto Politics then writes “But if those prices spike – by say, 58 percent, he threw out – Ilus won’t hesitate to cut back on pricier items like T-shirts and hats.” Only off by 4 percent.
“They’re not going to pay any price,” Ilus said of his pro-Trump customers. “People got to eat before buying Trump. They have to buy food.” Another MAGA merchant, Alan Orgeron, tried to be more optimistic, saying “Most Republicans understand what tariffs do and why President Trump is using them. He wants manufacturing. He wants our workers. He wants America first. He wants companies to come back to America instead of going to China or Mexico and building factories there.”
At the article’s close, Palmetto Politics describes a visit to Kligman’s store by a Michigan autoworker named Matt. Asked what he thought about the tariffs, Matt “took a sharp exhale” and said “I think it’s going to hurt at first,” and didn’t add a “but.” He then saw a Trump cardboard cutout he liked.
Until he saw the $49.99 price tag. “It’s just too expensive.” Matt then walked out empty-handed.