Donald Trump has been teasing a “major announcement” for days, and he finally dropped it on Thursday.

The hype surrounding what it would be reached a fever pitch among the more MAGA-than-most contingent. Sara Carter, who often appears on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, speculated that Trump was going to run for Speaker of the House.

Wouldn't it be incredible if today's 'major announcement' was that @realDonaldTrump was throwing his hat in the ring to be Speaker of the House… Just imagine what it would be like to see him sitting behind @POTUS… that's just a guess

What's your guess? #TheSaraCarterShow pic.twitter.com/IkBxXvMdP1

— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) December 15, 2022

That never made any sense given Trump wouldn’t come close to having the votes, and I doubt he’d run for something knowing he had no chance to win. Still, others thought that the former president was going to name Kari Lake as his prospective 2024 running mate.

In the end, though, my prediction that it would be something unspectacular and cringe turned out to be right. Far from an actual major announcement, Trump is getting into the ultimate online scam: NFTs.

Trump made his big announcement on Truth…

A “Trump Digital Trading Card” collection: pic.twitter.com/dD6Fer1vga

— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) December 15, 2022

I’m sorry, what? Who on his team thought this was a good idea and how much are they getting paid for it? There’s no way Trump came up with this himself if for no other reason than him not being technically savvy enough (try explaining NFTs to your grandfather). This was the work of someone in his orbit looking to make a quick buck.

Still, when Trump puts his name on something, he’s responsible for it, and this feels a bit much. Serious presidential campaigns that want to help their party don’t introduce grifting NFT scams meant to deprive dementia-ridden old ladies of their cash. I mean, I thought the Save America PAC’s fundraising tactics were bad, but holy cow, this is next level.

This entire thing feels an awful lot like a cash grab from someone who doesn’t actually expect to win in 2024 and can see the gravy train coming to an end. I hate to say that, but selling NFTs? Come on. Even his most ardent supporters have to be looking sideways at this and questioning his motives. And to string them along for days, making it seem like he had something actually important to say? That’s kind of mean.

Since the election ended, I’ve stayed away from writing on Trump outside of hard news (i.e. the DOJ investigation). That’s mostly because I know I have a lot of readers who support him for 2024, and I’m just not ready to have that fight yet nor do I purposely seek to make people I generally agree with mad. I voted for Trump twice so I have zero animosity toward anyone who remains a fan. But man, this kind of stuff is making it really difficult to not just throw my hands up.

NFTs are a scam. They have no value, and I’ve long bashed anyone who pushes them (not on this site, but elsewhere). It’s not 2016 anymore. All press is not good press, and simply getting people talking is not earning him votes. It’s funny, and I’m laughing, but this is a mistake.