President Trump assembled his cabinet on Thursday to talk about the war in Iran. But he also seized the moment to regale top officials with an extended digression about his preferred writing tool, the Sharpie.
In between complaining about the Fed chair Jerome H. Powell’s renovation of the central bank’s headquarters, he waxed on about the virtues of the Sharpie, which he said was more economical and a better writing instrument than the fancier ones preferred by his predecessors. It was an anecdote meant to signal his business acumen and man-of-the-people tastes.
“I came here. They have thousand-dollar pens, and, you know, you hand pens out, you’re signing and you hand them out. You’re handing them with all these people, sometimes you have 30 or 40 people, and they were $1,000 a piece,” he said.
The pens, Mr. Trump continued, “didn’t write well” and had “no ink.” He instead turned to the Sharpie when signing bills. “The bottom line is: They’re better pens,” he said. “It’s a business story. So for $5, it could be zero, but for $5, I get a much better pen than for $1,000.”
Mr. Trump is correct that Sharpies are cheaper, but he overstated the cost of past presidential writing instruments. (Whether Sharpies are better is in the eye of the penholder.)
A.T. Cross, which is based in Rhode Island, said it had manufactured the pens preferred by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, all of whom used the Townsend model. The pen, described by Cross as possessing a “bold profile, intricate detailing and superior writing performance,” now retails for about $200. (The classic black version costs about $265.)
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. preferred Cross’s Century II model, which the company says brings “modern flair to a time-honored design.” That model is slightly less expensive, whose cost ranges from $99 to $270 a pen.
Luxury pen enthusiasts, it should be noted, often describe Cross pens, as relatively affordable alternatives to other famous pens made by Montblanc and Nakaya, which can retail for over $1,000.
In contrast, Mr. Trump said that Sharpie agreed to create a special version for the White House, painting it black and embossing it with his signature in gold. The cost of that pen, he said, was only $5. Sharpie, Cross and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It is unclear whether that exact model is available for purchase. But the president and his family have sold other versions.
After Mr. Trump in 2019 displayed a large map of a hurricane’s path that included a line drawn in black marker, his campaign began selling a set of five fine-point markers for $15. Last year, a version of Mr. Trump’s Sharpie was on sale at Mar-a-Lago for $3, The New York Times reported. The Trump Organization currently sells a Trump-branded pen for $25. It is unclear if that version is a Sharpie.
Mr. Trump’s renewed promotion of the brand did not appear to be enough to overcome the market fears caused by his war with Iran. The stock of Newell Brands, which makes Sharpies, fell steadily after the meeting.
Linda Qiu is a Times reporter who specializes in fact-checking statements made by politicians and public figures. She has been reporting and fact-checking public figures for nearly a decade.
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