By now you’ve no doubt heard of the Trump family’s most recent grift opportunity—sorry, business venture: a cellular brand called “Trump Mobile,” with a tacky, $500, gold-colored phone dubbed the “T1 Phone” (allegedly “Made in the USA”) and a mobile plan called “The 47 Plan” (which, at $47.45 per month, is roughly double that of other similar plans).

I’m not sure which is the bigger grift: a company owned by the current president selling this service and phone, or claiming the phone will be “Made in USA” (the press release says “designed and built in the United States”).

It’s complete bunko.

The Wall Street Journal bluntly states that “Trump’s Smartphone Can’t Be Made in America for $499 by August” (paywalled; Apple News+ link):

A spokesman for the Trump Organization said in an email that “manufacturing for the new phone will be in Alabama, California and Florida.”

[…]

“There’s absolutely no way you could make the screen, get that memory, camera, battery, everything” in the U.S., said Tinglong Dai, a professor of operations management and business analytics at Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School. 

Dai estimated it would take “at least five years” for the U.S. to establish the infrastructure necessary to make “Made in USA” smartphones a real possibility.

Allison Johnson, The Verge:

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization doubled down on this claim to The Wall Street Journal, saying “manufacturing for the new phone will be in Alabama, California and Florida.”

But unless the organization has somehow hidden an entire domestic mobile device supply chain right under our noses, this is virtually impossible.[…]

More likely the T1 will be a white label device with most or all of its production handled by a Chinese ODM, or original design manufacturer.

I’ll wager someone will get a hundred devices’ worth of Chinese cellphone parts and screw them together in their garage, and that will satisfy the “Made in America” claim.

Joseph Cox at 404 Media tried to pre-order the phone with a $100 down payment:

The website failed, went to an error page, and then charged my credit card the wrong amount of $64.70. I received a confirmation email saying I’ll receive a confirmation when my order has been shipped, but I haven’t provided a shipping address or paid the full $499 price tag. It is the worst experience I’ve ever faced buying a consumer electronic product and I have no idea whether or how I’ll receive the phone.

Todd Spangler, Variety:

Trump Mobile and its carrier partners are subject to regulatory oversight by the Federal Communications Commission, which is headed by Trump-appointed FCC chairman Brendan Carr.

No conflict of interest here, I’m sure.