Trump Bashes Telephones—Right After Launching His Own Gold-Plated Smartphone

President Trump is once again at the center of a political circus—this time for trashing telephones mere hours after his own family business announced a flashy Trump-branded smartphone. The contradiction left even some longtime supporters scratching their heads.

Early Tuesday morning aboard Air Force One, President Trump abruptly returned from the G7 summit in Canada, citing urgent business in Washington, D.C., as tensions flared between Israel and Iran. But when pressed by reporters about why he cut his trip short, Trump delivered a typically bizarre explanation: “Not having to use telephones so much, because I don’t believe in telephones,” he insisted.

“People like you listen to them, you know, so being on the scene is much better,” Trump added, aiming a paranoid jab at the press.

The timing couldn’t have been more awkward. Just hours earlier, the Trump Organization had unveiled its latest bid for MAGA tech dominance: a gold-colored smartphone called the “T1,” marketed to “real Americans” and available for $499. The company boasted that the phone would feature an American flag and would be “Made in the USA.” But reality quickly intruded.

Industry experts were quick to point out the obvious. “There’s absolutely no way you could make the screen, get that memory, camera, battery, everything in the U.S. right now,” said Dr. Tinglong Dai, a professor at Johns Hopkins, in a scathing rebuke reported by The Wall Street Journal. “That capability would take at least five years.”

Within hours, Eric Trump, serving as the company’s chief hype man, tried to downplay expectations on right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro’s show. “Eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America,” Eric promised, adding the campaign-friendly slogan: “Built for America by Americans. Do it cheaper. Do it better.”

But a quick look at the fine print reveals the first run of T1 devices will be at least partially made in China—the very outsourcing Trump once railed against.

While the Trump Mobile website brags about no contracts and “all-American” customer support, the company’s sudden leap into consumer tech only highlights the president’s uneasy relationship with modern gadgets.

Despite being famous for his rapid-fire Truth Social posts, those close to Trump describe a man almost allergic to technology. Former aide Madeleine Westerhout recalled that Trump would often scribble tweets on paper and hand them off to staffers. According to insiders, Trump resisted using email for years and preferred bicycle messengers to communicate within the Trump Organization until at least 2012.

“He is very old school,” longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone admitted to Politico back in 2016, even labeling him “sort of a Luddite”—a reference to workers who famously smashed industrial machinery in 19th-century England.

Now, as MAGA loyalists scramble to preorder the T1, critics wonder if Trump’s “don’t believe in telephones” routine is just another grift—or the latest chapter in his ongoing war with the modern world.

One thing is clear: the message from Trump’s world is as mixed as ever.