this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
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An estimated 590,000 buyers paid a £74 ($100) deposit to secure one, collectively handing the venture roughly £43.7 million ($59 million). As of May 2026, not a single confirmed customer has received the device. Now, a fresh wave of anger is spreading across MAGA forums after buyers received communication making clear that their money is, for all practical purposes, gone.

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[–] darkmogool@feddit.org 5 points 3 hours ago
[–] mellowistheyellow@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

lol people actually paid for this and thought they would get something? So many Americans are ignorant beyond belief

[–] Kubiac@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 hours ago

Unbelivable, but true.

[–] Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 14 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Guys guys, forget about the phone, trump is launching the "golden houses". Just make a deposit of 30k, and you will totally get an amazing palace 100% made of american gold and built by white heterosexual americans workers. This is going to be big, you should pre-order right now.

[–] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 11 points 5 hours ago

Reads fine print

"House will be in the USA."

HARD Pass.

[–] rozodru@piefed.world 37 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

The fact that there was never a phone, never going to be a phone or plan, and they still took deposits and then said "yeah, you're not getting those back" would land any other person in front of a judge and promptly into a prison cell.

If you or I ran this scam you know that would be the outcome. This is just another clear example that if you're a person of power and wealth the laws simply don't apply to you. This isn't a United States issue, this is a clear example of a world wide issue that we as regular people should be rioting over. I don't care what country you're in you HAVE people in your countries that do this shit daily. We should be placing heads on pikes.

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 9 points 5 hours ago

"Who'd have thought a convicted conman would commit fraud again!? There's literally no way we could have predicted this would happen! No way at all! It's not as though there's a list or anything! We should have a list!"

"There's a list right h..."

"FAKE NEWS!!!"

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 11 points 8 hours ago

Shows everything you need to know about MAGA, when the bastard hawks altered, cheap, self-glorifying Bibles the "religious right" is maybe mildly grumbly.

Grift them with a smartphone though and NOW THEY'RE SUDDENLY PRETTY ANGRY.

Their idolatry is obvious. One cannot serve both God and the stupidest political faction the U.S has ever seen since the confederacy.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 8 points 7 hours ago

How could this be. They promised all the reliability and dependebility one comes to expect from the trump admini......oooohhhh. yeah that tracks. did the communication go out on a tuesday?

[–] chetradley@lemmy.world 9 points 8 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 hours ago

Don't do that to that poster, what did it do to you?

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 12 hours ago

Up next: "Attorneys" that reach out to these people saying that in order to form a class action, they need to pay a retainer of $1000. For each person they bring into the class, they get a higher percentage of any "winnings".

[–] newton@feddit.online 10 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 13 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

I love the uneducated

🤡

[–] SaltySalamander@fedia.io 4 points 8 hours ago

poorly educated*

[–] newton@feddit.online 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

But still education is not always a key too succes

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

It is, however, a gateway to success

[–] Bwaz@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

Being born to rich parents is the gateway to success. Preferably white ones.

[–] newton@feddit.online 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Contacts and lots of contacts ,is key too succes . They can make you or break you

[–] SaltySalamander@fedia.io 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

If you're dumb as fuck, contacts will only help you so much.

[–] newton@feddit.online 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)
[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

Being a sociopathic narcissist gets you the rest of the way.

[–] aarch0x40@piefed.social 53 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

But as a consolation, you can be first in line to place a $250 deposit on Trump 2 Phone (full price just $750)!

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 24 points 13 hours ago

You probably aren't even kidding.

[–] newton@feddit.online 2 points 10 hours ago
[–] magnue@lemmy.world 108 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Vote down the drain. Money down the drain. America down the drain.

[–] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 hours ago

America down the drain.

The more I think about this, the more I'm fine with it.

[–] SheepHerder@lemmy.world 14 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] tomi000@lemmy.world 18 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

What do you mean? It is changing rapidly

[–] VieuxQueb@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

They will still vote the same way.

[–] tomi000@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Sure that might not change^^ but other things do

[–] newton@feddit.online 4 points 10 hours ago
[–] lovingisliving@anarchist.nexus 12 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Who could have seen this coming?? Oh wait, anyone with a brain.

[–] unreliable@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 11 hours ago

This has always been about money laundering; some fools got involved along with it though.

[–] dan@upvote.au 84 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (6 children)

What a surprise - the phone that was a photoshopped Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra in a Spigen case isn't real.

There is absolutely no way a phone that's made in the USA could be sold for only $499.

The Trump phone plan is a grift too. $47.45/month and you only get 20GB high speed data, when you can get 70GB (or actual unlimited, depending on network) from US Mobile for less than half the price.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 20 points 8 hours ago

$47.45/month

Wait was it pitched at "47.45" because...of his presidential terms?! THAT'S SO STUPID!

Lol it also illustrates the mentality so well, that the numbers are out of sequence but this would hypothetically squeeze people for 2 more bucks, so of course that's what they're gonna do.

[–] suxen_tsihcrana@anarchist.nexus 32 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Those gigabytes were going to be gold-plated and oxygen-free, to be fair

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 11 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

There is absolutely no way a phone that’s made in the USA could be sold for only $499.

TBF - no wait, fairness is wrong here -
playing devil's advocate, they did dial back on that claim somewhat, it was known that this will be some off-brand device, most likely made in China.

[–] dan@upvote.au 23 points 13 hours ago (4 children)

They originally said it was going to be 100% American made for that price, and only toned it down later on. Now they just say "Designed with American values in mind", whatever that means.

[–] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 hours ago

“Designed with American values in mind”

This means the phone will rape and traffic children and you won't care.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 7 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

"Designed with American values in mind"

"Everyone involved in the design and supply chain was promised they'd be paid in exposure after the work was completed."

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 9 points 9 hours ago

It means "we'll make sure to use exploitive underpaid overseas labor in its production and make this product at the lowest price possible" because what could be more American than that?

[–] prenatal_confusion@feddit.org 7 points 10 hours ago

Turbo capitalism?

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[–] prex@aussie.zone 53 points 15 hours ago

Does anyone have the actual email? I want to see the bullshit language used to let these rubes down.

[–] santa@sh.itjust.works 32 points 15 hours ago

MAGA is the pinnacle of stupidity.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 16 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
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[–] notabot@piefed.social 8 points 13 hours ago

This is all obviously Biden's fault somehow though, right?

[–] Kirp123@lemmy.world 18 points 15 hours ago

Donald Trump, the grift that keeps on grifting.

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