Donald Trump’s presidential administration has always been pathetic, but something happened yesterday that seemed to flip a switch in the hearts and minds of a lot of people around the world. Rather than being pathetic in a way that was depressing, like “how is this idiot running the country?” or whatever, Trump being pathetic suddenly became hilarious—and we think we know where it started. It wasn’t when Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania became mathematically insurmountable, it was when Trump’s team announced that it would be holding a press conference at the “Four Seasons, Philadelphia” and then immediately corrected that announcement to say that the press conference would not be held at a Four Seasons hotel, but a place called Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
The story behind that tweet has become one of the great mysteries of this election. Was it truly a mistake and the administration booked the wrong location? Had they tried booking a hotel and couldn’t, so they booked a similarly named business instead? Was it an attempt to appeal to working class Americans? Either way, it was pretty funny and it was completely emblematic of the kind of bullshit that Trump pulled constantly during his now-abbreviated political career. Of course he says he’s going to be at a Four Seasons and then shows up at a place that happens to be called Four Seasons. The only way to make it more perfect would be if he had tweeted something about never holding a press conference outside of a Four Seasons landscaping place.
Vox has dug into the Four Seasons thing a bit, trying to determine whether or not it was on purpose (the conclusion seems to be “probably on purpose but Trump himself was probably confused”), and Vox included a mention in its story about how the employees at Four Seasons Total Landscaping are surprised that they’re getting so much attention. Apparently it’s not all good attention, as anyone should expect when doing any kind of business with Trump, but there’s a silver lining: Four Seasons has teased that it will be launching a merch section of its website by Monday morning, offering everyone a chance to buy the perfect commemorative item for this ridiculous time in our country.
Unfortunately, Four Seasons Total Landscaping has been beaten to the punch by artist Shing Yin Khor, who is now selling a very fun shirt on their Threadless store featuring the Four Seasons Total Landscaping name and Philadelphia icon Gritty riding a lawnmower. Better yet, all of the proceeds are going to help Democrats now facing runoff elections in Georgia and other grassroots political organizations. As of a few hours ago, the shirts had raised $28,000, enough that the artist noted “this is now a tax problem for me.” The shirts will only be available for a little bit longer, so if you want to get in on this joke, you’ll need to act fast.