Barnum-Mencken Syndrome
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Two days ago, commenter Catpush coined the term “Barnum-Mencken Syndrome” to describe the people will to pay to read Bari Weiss’s blog. As always, nobody provides a better example of the concept that Donald Trump’s base:
Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s non-fungible token (NFT) digital trading card collection sold out early Friday, the day after its initial release.
According to data from OpenSea, at time of writing, the collection’s trading volume is 900 ETH, or about $1.08 million. Its floor price is about 0.19 ETH, or about $230 – more than double the original price of $99.
Some tokens are selling for much higher prices. The one-of-ones, the rarest of the NFTs, which comprise 2.4% of the 45,000 unit collection (roughly 1,000), are selling for as much as 6 ETH at the time of writing. One of these rare trading cards, of the 45th president standing in front of the Statue of Liberty holding a torch, is currently listed at 20 ETH, or about $24,000.
Trump gets a 10% cut of every resale too, so this is a hell of a grift.
I was actually curious what the market for such a hilariously lame and tacky ripoff would be, but I really should have known. Donald Trump insults the intelligence of his audience routinely because he knows it’s eminently justified.