“Lions Not Sheep” is a clothing company based in Utah that makes pro-Trump and pro-conservative apparel — “Let’s Go Brandon” and pro-Second Amendment T-shirts are just some examples of the themes that appear on their products.
As the Salt Lake Tribune points out, the company has made a big deal about its products being manufactured in the U.S. — up until the company’s owner had to pay a $211,335 to the Federal Trade Commission for false advertising. According to the FTC, Lions Not Sheep was replacing the “Made in China” or other countries with labels that read “Made in USA.”
The company also agreed to cease promoting foreign products as American and will contact those who purchased products with misleading labels since May 2021 and inform them of the deception.
Writing for the Salt Lake Tribune, Robert Gehrke says that the story reaffirms his suspicion that “a significant portion of the right-wing rage machine is fueled by people looking to exploit the anger and make a quick buck.”
Some of the scams are big. In June, NPR reported, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot revealed that Donald Trump’s team perpetuated election fraud lies in order to raise a quarter of a billion dollars for his “Official Election Defense Fund” — a fund, the committee asserted, does not exist. It’s the intersection of The Big Lie and The Big Grift.
Or you can look at someone like Alex Jones, who will make absurd, outlandish claims — like the Sandy Hook massacre was staged by crisis actors — then use the attention to sell colloidal silver products and toothpastes he claimed could stop COVID, according to Forbes. The Huffington Post reported Jones made $165 million over a three-year span.
