July 29, 2016

The Trump Files: Watch the Trump Vodka Ad Designed for a Russian Audience

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Until the election, we’re bringing you “The Trump Files,” a daily dose of telling episodes, strange but true stories, or curious scenes from the life of GOP nominee Donald Trump.

In the mid-2000s, Donald Trump licensed his name—in exchange for about half the profits—to a high-priced line of vodka that came in a distinctive gold bottle. Though Trump doesn’t drink, he praised the “smooth” and “great-tasting vodka,” which was produced by a Dutch distillery. “I don’t know if it tasted so good,” the distillery’s manager told Bloomberg earlier this year. “I’m not a vodka drinker.” One of the markets Trump Vodka targeted was Russia. Given the vast quantities of vodka Russians legendarily consume every year, it seemed like a business no-brainer. In 2007, Trump and his partners attempted to make a splash in the Russian market with a grand premier at something called the Moscow Millionaire’s Fair (an annual event for millionaires to market the latest in luxury goods). To promote the booze, the brand’s marketing team put together a bizarre video featuring images of Trump, the Kremlin, tigers (for some reason), and, uh, Vladimir Lenin (who probably would not have had a high opinion of Donald Trump).

It was all downhill from there for Trump Vodka, whose parent company was later sold off and repurposed to market Mexican-themed liquors.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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