Do you ever see something online and think to yourself…wait…why isn’t this a bigger deal? I know it’s just a tweet, but shouldn’t it be like…national news?

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Those were exactly the thoughts that passed through my mind upon seeing a clip of Donald Trump circulating a few days ago. In the video, posted by attorney and former federal state prosecutor Ron Filipkowski, Trump is seen handing out cash to a woman in a supermarket while seeming to explain that it’s “from the White House.” What?

Based on what we can see of the interaction, Trump seems to be giving a woman—who asked for an autograph—a $100 bill to pay down her grocery total. Does it still count as gerrymandering if you assume the person in question is going to vote for you? And how does the publicity stunt aspect factor into this?

Whatever the legal implications of this act, I think we can all agree it’s pretty weird. Republicans are of course comparing Trump’s attempt at charity to Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. But the difference is right there in the language. Program. As in, federally-funded. As in, not a sweaty bill passing directly from Donald Trump’s small, gross hand to a random woman in a grocery store.

Whatever the legality of this move is—and we know Trump is great at finding legal loopholes—we can all agree it’s a pretty strange and desperate-looking choice. It’s also, as many are pointing out, a scene ripped from the forthcoming Francis Ford Coppola film Megalopolis, about an architect’s battle royale against a more conservative, less flamboyant Trump figure, played by Breaking Bad‘s Giancarlo Esposito.

Obviously we’ve collectively decided—without anyone’s consent—that the regular rules don’t apply to Trump, and that he should be treated as a special baby who can break the law with impunity whenever he feels like it. But this is skating ridiculously close to the edge, even for Trump.

That’s not all: as Filipkowski also posted, Trump has gone full home shopping network by starting to hawk “Trump victory watches” on Truth Social. This move, according to Filipkowski, could easily pave the way for semi-legal bribery.

None of this is really new or surprising: another day, another Trump scam. But if there’s a takeaway here, it’s that Trump and his entire team must be getting pretty desperate to keep pulling stunts like these.

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