Just over two hours after Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania, Chinese online retailers began offering souvenir T-shirts featuring photos from the incident. Li Jinwei, a Taobao seller, commented, “We put the T-shirts on Taobao as soon as we saw the news about the shooting, though we hadn’t even printed them, and within three hours we saw more than 2,000 orders from both China and the US.”
The rapid production and sale of these T-shirts were made possible by digital printing technology, allowing quick printing and listing. Xinflying Digital Printing Production, a Guangdong-based company, mentioned that their machines could produce eight election-related T-shirts per hour.
Data from DHgate, a Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform, indicated a 40% month-over-month increase in transaction volume for election-related souvenirs since January, with growth exceeding 110% in March. The swift turnaround on the Trump shooting merchandise was feasible because factories quickly downloaded the relevant images and used their digital printing capabilities to produce the items. Li’s factory in Hebei province could complete a T-shirt in about one minute.
Trump Assassination Attempt Details
During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, former US President Donald Trump was abruptly removed from the stage following a series of loud noises that resembled gunshots. As the sounds subsided, Trump reportedly winced and placed his hand over his right ear, revealing visible blood.
Shortly after, agents swiftly escorted the Republican candidate from the podium. In a display of defiance, Trump ‘displayed a fist to the crowd’.
This incident occurred after Trump took the stage at his final political campaign rally before the upcoming Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. As shots rang out, chaos and confusion erupted at the rally.