Trump’s Sharpie Story Didn’t Happen According To Sharpie

When Donald Trump apparently decided to make up a bullsh*t story about him having a conversation with Sharpie about pens, he probably didn’t expect Sharpie to deny any such interaction took place.

But that’s exactly what happened when The Washington Post reached out to the pen-maker after Trump spent several minutes of a Cabinet meeting last week bragging about how he supposedly saved taxpayers money by convincing Sharpie to make special pens just for him.

“So I came here, and they have $1,000 pens. And, you know, you hand pens out, you’re signing, and you hand them out,” Trump ranted. “You’re handing them to all these people. Sometimes you have 30, 40 people, and they are $1,000 a piece. Beautiful pen, ballpoint, $1,000. It was gold, silver, gorgeous. But I’m handing out to kids that don’t even know what they are.”

In fact, presidents traditionally use the A.T. Cross Century II ballpoint pen for bill signings, the same pens that are typically handed out by the president as the bill is signed during signing ceremonies. Those pens do not cost anywhere near $1,000 as Trump claims. They cost $100-$200.

Anyway, Trump continued ranting. “So I’m saying this is crazy, and it had another problem: They didn’t write well,” he claimed. “So I take it out, and I sign, and there’s no ink, and I got all you people looking, and you say, ‘There must be something wrong with Trump.’”

Indeed, that is crazy because it’s not something that actually happens. This is not a real problem, but rather an excuse for Trump to order custom pens for himself on the taxpayers’ dime. The pens he ordered are gold-plated and feature his own signature, which he obsesses over putting on everything, including our own money.

Trump went on to claim that he called “a guy” at Sharpie who offered to make “better” pens and give them to Trump for free, but Trump supposedly insisted that Sharpie get paid, even though he also seemed to complain that they weren’t free.

“The bottom line is, they’re better pens,” Trump said. “It’s a business story. So for $5—could be zero—but for $5 I get a much better pen than for $1,000, and I could hand them out, and actually they become hot as a pistol.”

It’s yet another mythical tall tale by Trump about how he did something better and cheaper than anyone else. Except it didn’t happen.

When asked for comment on Trump’s story, Sharpie manufacturer Newell Brands denied any such interaction took place, stating, “We don’t have any information about the conversation described.”

In nine words, Sharpie discredited Trump’s entire claim, proving once again that there is no lie too big or too small that he won’t tell in a desperate effort to make himself look good.

Featured Image: Wikimedia/Public Domain