Touting ‘Trump Cards,' president makes dubious claims, unveils weird new website
FOR FIVE MILLION $DOLLARS, THE TRUMP CARD IS COMING! More than fifteen thousand have signed up and joined the Waiting List since we opened the site last night! That's $75 Billion Dollars to help balance our Budget, and strengthen America. The opportunity to live in the Greatest Country, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, with the largest Economy in the World, is here. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. THE WAITING LIST IS NOW OPEN. To sign up, go to — trumpcard.gov/.
If this sounded at all familiar, it's because this wasn't the first time the Republican had broached the subject.
Nearly four months ago, the president unveiled plans for a visa program — at the time, it was billed as Trump's 'Gold Cards' — which he said would be similar to green cards, 'but at a higher level of sophistication.'
He added that the point was to allow 'very high-level people' to enjoy a new route to American citizenship by giving the government $5 million.
There are similar programs elsewhere — the International Monetary Fund refers to these as 'golden passport programs' — though all of this would be quite new to the United States.
Bloomberg News' report on this noted that international law enforcement agencies have warned that programs like these 'facilitate criminal activity and are riddled with corruption,' adding: 'The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, has warned for years that golden visa programs expose the bloc to money laundering and security risks.'
Trump nevertheless seemed quite excited about the possibility, telling reporters that, according to his math, the program could generate '$50 trillion.'
Now, evidently, the White House is moving forward with this plan, unveiling a weird website featuring an image of a gold card emblazoned with Trump's face, the Statue of Liberty (the irony was no doubt lost on the officials who designed this) and the number 5,000,000.
The site also made clear that what was described as Trump's 'Gold Cards' in February has been rebranded as 'Trump Cards.'
The Washington Post reported, 'Scant details remain on the requirements and criteria necessary to be eligible for the cards, but Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said applicants will be 'deeply vetted.'' How reassuring.
As for the 15,000 people who the president claimed have already 'signed up and joined the Waiting List,' resulting in '$75 Billion Dollars to help balance our Budget,' there's no shortage of questions about the relevant details. As USA Today reported, 'The fact that 15,000 people have signed up at trumpcard.gov does not automatically translate to $75 billion. The website only asks for basic information — it does not seek proof of financial wherewithal and involve any other form of vetting.'
Indeed, it's possible that some of those who've signed up don't actually have $5 million, just as it's also possible that some of them come from countries included in the president's latest travel ban.
As for whether any of this is legal, USA Today's report added: 'Trump has said that he is not seeking approval from Congress because he is not providing gold card buyers with citizenship — only a path to citizenship. The path to citizenship requirements for card buyers are unclear and White House officials have said more details will be provided soon.' Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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