MS NOW’s Ari Melber said even some of President Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters are feeling “duped” and “angry” after apparently falling victim to the president’s latest grift. One year after the launch of Trump Mobile, customers who put down a $100 deposit to secure a gold smartphone are still empty-handed.
Despite amassing an estimated $59 million in deposits and promising to release the phone in August 2025, not a single mobile device has been shipped. And now it appears those phones may never reach customers.
According to Fortune, the company behind Trump Mobile, T1 Mobile LLC, updated its preorder terms and conditions last month to add that it “does not guarantee that a Device will be produced or made available for purchase” and note that a “preorder deposit provides only a conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale.”
On Monday’s “The Beat,” Melber dived into the backlash over the delay.
“A bunch of customers and MAGA fans are very angry to find that Donald Trump is breaking his word again,” he said after playing a clip of a self-proclaimed supporter who said he ordered four phones and demanded updates on his order.
“The Trumps’ family business has duped whatever fans it has left,” Melber added.
The host of “The Beat” also noted another change to the Trump Mobile rollout since its launch: “The company’s selling point was that this somewhat gilded device would be made in America. … Now they say it will be ‘proudly American.’”
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“I guess that’s kind of how the phone identifies. It will be designed with ‘American values in mind’ — sure, whatever. But that’s not how country-of-origin labeling works,” he added.
Melber said this is part of a “pattern” for the president.
“If it’s all familiar, this is not the first time Trump has done this kind of thing,” he said, before citing other instances when the president has been accused of exploiting his supporters, including his meme coin.
Melber added: “You could analogize some of what he does in business to how he’s moved through voters. … Because he keeps moving around, moving the goalposts, finding new people to believe the thing the old people are disillusioned [with].”
You can watch Melber’s full commentary in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”