Election merch has yielded its share of stories for us over the last year, especially when the Democratic Party had so many contenders to unseat President Donald Trump. The President has factored into our coverage, too, and it’s his desire to ensure the legitimacy of goods surrounding his reelection that led his campaign to issue a cease and desist to Tennessee-based doctors over counterfeit Trump merch they are selling from a wrapped bus.
The physicians, couple John and Yullie Stancil, have become two-time thorns in the President’s side, as Fox 17 Nashville noted that they sold similar products two years ago, relying on a bus and a trailer to do so. While again testing the administration’s restrictions on such items warrants a reprimand, the Stancils now also find themselves taking heat for selling the counterfeit merch in public despite coronavirus stay at home orders.
JUST IN: President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign has issued a cease and desist to a Nashville couple selling counterfeit campaign merchandise.https://t.co/WSJ3K4aF9e
— FoxNashville (@FOXNashville) April 16, 2020
“People think your bus is affiliated with the Campaign,” the cease-and-desist letter reads. “You work a great disservice on the President’s Campaign when you give the false impression that the Campaign is not taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously.”
The clock is certainly ticking for the Stancils, as they have until tomorrow to provide a written reply that vows they will stop selling the bogus Trump merch. According to Fox 17 Nashville, John Stancil has an elaborate history of supporting the president via merch, leaving us to wonder how legitimate those items might have been and he sold this time around.
Regarding the present, the campaign, as the cease-and-desist letter states, will continue to take “all necessary measures to protect its rights.” Though the COVID-19 pandemic has obviously taken up the lion’s share of headlines, we are, barring an unprecedented change, only six-and-a-half months away from the General Election, so one wonders if the Trump Administration will need to engage in suppressing any other counterfeit campaign merch controversies.
