The latest move by President Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign to capitalize on the culture wars is the result of his extended defense of his incorrect claim that Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo white house Trump campaign is selling branded markers after Sharpie-gate

Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has added a Trump-branded permanent marker to its web store, capitalizing on the Sharpie-gate drama and expanding the campaign's culture war offerings that already include stick-it-to-the-liberals plastic straws.

The marker, announced on Twitter this morning by campaign manager Brad Parscale, is the latest effort by the campaign to amplify and then commodify what could have been a relatively minor controversy.


“Buy the official Trump marker, which is different than every other marker on the market, because this one has the special ability to drive @CNN and the rest of the fake news crazy!” Parscale tweeted.

It’s an apparent reference to the consternation that’s spread this week over Trump’s use of a Sharpie-altered weather map on Wednesday to back up his dubious claim that Alabama had been at dire risk of being hammered by Hurricane Dorian.

Beginning on Sunday, Trump has repeatedly insisted that the hurricane would threaten the state, despite being almost immediately contradicted by the National Weather Service and other meteorologists.

This is a familiar strategy from Parscale. In July, he griped on Twitter about a paper straw — marketed as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic — getting soggy and useless in his sweet tea. And because environmentally friendly is often associated with liberal in the context of the culture wars, a $15 pack of Trump-branded plastic straws soon arrived on the campaign store.

The campaign sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of the red straws, it told RealClearPolitics.

The marker, on the other hand, is black and emblazoned with Trump’s signature in gold, and sellslling in a pack of five for $15. For comparison, a pack of five Sharpie markers sells for $3.99 at office supply store Staples.