President Donald Trump made his fortune by selling everything from real estate to ties.
Now, at marches and rallies, where protesters denounce his name and all that he stands for, a growing number of street merchants in downtown Los Angeles are cashing in on anti-Trump sentiment.
“We’re doing great,” said Pam Kennedy, one of about dozen vendors who lined the sidewalk in front of L.A. City Hall Monday, where a “Not My President’s Day” rally took place.
Kennedy was doing brisk business from a table she set up filled with $5 pins, $10 T-shirts and red caps that read “Make Immigrants Great Again,” a twist on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” motto.
“We were at the Women’s March in Kansas City and it was great,” she said, adding that she travels around with her business partner following such marches and rallies. Los Angeles, she added, “is always good” for business.
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Like him or not, Trump’s presidency has given rise to the entrepreneurial spirit in the City of Angels and across the country. Rainbow flags with the words “Born this Way,” in support of the LGBT community were a big seller for one mother daughter-team on Monday. Another vendor sold “Not My President” banners for $5 each. He was so busy, he said, he didn’t have time to talk a reporter.
Nancy Vasquez, 21, of Boyle Heights served up bacon-wrapped hot dogs from the entrance of her family’s Salvadorean-Mexican restaurant, Casa India, on Saturday during the “Free the People,” march in downtown Los Angeles.
The dish is not the eatery’s usual fare, which includes soups, tacos and pupusas, but it’s what people want to eat during the marches that have become near-weekly events, she said.
“Every Saturday and Sunday there’s a new march,” Vasquez said. “With Trump, there’s different kinds of marches going around.”
For brick-and-mortar businesses like her family’s, the marches mean less traffic into the restaurants themselves, since “people don’t really buy anything and just pass by.”
“People are cashing off of Donald Trump,” said Randy Economy, who is part of the Trump for America campaign. “I think people are making more money off of Donald Trump than he’s earning as President. I think it’s ironic that there’s a cottage industry around anti-Trump merchandise.”
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Economy said he’s seen anti-Trump merchandise sell for hundreds of dollars on the Internet. But those who hawk anti-Trump goods aren’t the only ones making some serious coin.
“I went to the inauguration, and there was enough pro-Trump merchandise there too,” Economy said. “The next day, they had all the anti-Trump merchandise for the Women’s March. Same exact folks. These guys are making a killing. I even bought myself a pro-Trump flag.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Chou contributed to this report
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