July 24, 2020

The Trump Files: Donald and the Great Geico Boycott

“Something has to be done about this terrible, terrible Geico ad.”

Mother Jones illustration; Shutterstock

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This post was originally published as part of “The Trump Files”—a collection of telling episodes, strange but true stories, and curious scenes from the life of our current President—on June 16, 2016.

The Donald knows a bad commercial when he sees one, and he won’t hesitate to strike back against them.

“Something has to be done about this terrible, terrible Geico ad,” he demanded in the March 21, 2011, edition of his “From The Desk of Donald Trump” YouTube series. At the time, Geico was running ads that featured basically nothing but a gravelly-voiced man in a suit asking rhetorical questions. (Look, they were weird. Just watch them yourselves.) Trump was incensed by the ads.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen on television,” he complained. “They’ve got this third-rate guy acting like he’s Humphrey Bogart, he’s driving people crazy…It’s a horrible commercial, it bothers everybody.”

But, as always, Trump had a plan to solve this. “We ought to boycott Geico,” he told his internet fans. “This is not Humphrey Bogart. If it were, Humphrey Bogart would not be a very famous guy.”

Read the rest of The Trump Files:

 

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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