Former President Donald Trump caused a stir on Saturday when he unexpectedly appeared at Sneaker Con in Pennsylvania, captivating the crowd with a showcase of exclusive and pricey golden sneakers. Referred to as “The Greatest Sneaker Show On Earth,” Trump’s impromptu visit took place just before his scheduled campaign rally in Michigan, as per Fox News.
“Taking the stage at the event in Philadelphia, Trump appeared before a crowd of emotional attendees, some of whom cheered on the president as others booed him during his speech,” Fox noted.
He delivered a speech lasting approximately 10 minutes before showcasing the exclusive branded golden sneakers priced at $399 per pair, all of which were quickly sold out online. Sources indicate that only 1,000 pairs of the golden sneakers were made available.
“A lot of emotion. There’s a lot of emotion in this room,” Trump said shortly after he took to the podium. “They have lines going all around the block. They’ve never seen anything like this one.”
“I just want to tell you, you know, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. I have some incredible people that work with me on things, and they came up with this,” Trump continued. “This is something I’ve been talking about for 12 years, 13 years, and I think it’s going to be a big success.”
“They love it, and they love what we’ve done,” Trump said as he flashed the shoes to those in the audience. “That’s the real deal.”
In the November election, he emphasized that the crucial action individuals should take is to vote for him, promising to swiftly transform the nation. Following the previous day, Trump made an appearance subsequent to New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling, which imposed a $364 million fine on him and prohibited him from conducting business in the state for three years. This ruling was a result of NY Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud lawsuit against him.
The magnitude of the fine faced significant backlash, even from certain liberal legal scholars such as Georgetown University Law School Prof. Jonathan Turley.
“Well, this court really proved Oscar Wilde’s rule that ‘The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.’ Because the court has done everything short of ordering that Trump be thrown into a wood chipper. He’s imposed almost the maximum amount that James requested. He’s barring him from doing business in the city where he’s an iconic business figure, barring him from getting loans,” the professor began.
“The last part is particularly ironic because the banks not only said that they were not victims and did not complain about the alleged fraud, but they said that they wanted to do more business with Trump. They described him as a ‘whale’ client. So this is all being done essentially in their name as victims, even though no one lost any money,” he said.
“None of us could find a case like this. Yet, the first one, you have this fortune that is being demanded by the court to be turned over. I think there are real problems here. I think that this is going to have the same impact on some appellate judges. There have to be some limits, including Constitutional limits on the size of penalties, this is confiscatory and, in my view, just excessive,” he added.
“You know, I think there’s a major appeal obviously that will come. I was hoping the court would defy its critics and show a more moderate response. To show that yes, there were assets that were undervalued and overvalued, but to impose a more reasonable fine,” Turley said.