The mug shot was really hot.
And this stuff lasts
is probably about two months.
It stays really hot.
But the first week that we
the mug shot came out
was sold like 2000 T-shirts.
What's that?
That's a Trumps balls.
Okay.
Whitey Taylor runs a busy Trump store
in Boone's Mill,
a town of fewer
than 500 people in southwestern Virginia.
We visited a week after Christmas
with the Iowa caucuses just days away.
Taylor predicted Trump
would win the Republican nomination,
and then business would really boom.
Can only get these here.
How much?
$20 customers were bullish to
what the super fans bought.
Offer some insight
into what they want politically.
The merch is not just simple
campaign slogans.
It's defiant, even vulgar,
aimed at buyers
who enjoy being mad
at the state of America
and think there's one guy
who will fix it.
When Trump was indicted
for all these different things,
did people stop buying his merchandise?
No. They bought it more. Why?
Because they knew
it was like Russia collusion.
This is all just all made up.
Now, he has gained a lot of people
because of this administration
that we have now.
You know,
you get people coming in saying,
oh, yeah, definitely.
They'll just come in and say, never again
will I be that stupid, you know?
I welcome to the house yard.
What have you observed about what
people are looking for?
People want our economy better.
They're very scared,
I think, because of the way
things are going.
They feel like
where we're at right now is not
is like stagnant.
Were you interested in politics
before Trump? Yes.
And you know, it's strange
because I've always been Democrat really?
Yes.
So I am a firm believer in believing
in a person
and system
that's going to make positive changes.
I think in the past
I made some quick judgments
about my voting.
And so I'm very more selective
and it's more thought put into it.
What's coming up right now?
Who knows?
The more the Democrats talk about
MAGA crazy people,
then you know, some will spin off of it
within a 150 mile radius of here.
Anybody gets company
and they bring them here.
Why did you come in today?
To get some more Trump stuff
so I can advertise and
you know, supporting.
Oh six. Okay.
I like lost everything I had.
Yeah, but I barely survived on the
I don't know how I did
And this is leading up to the same thing
again was coming the ninth. I was coming.
And do you think Trump could
prevent that? I think he can.
I think he can put the brakes on
and turn away.
I often wonder
what encourages people to be a Democrat
because
I don't see a lot of kindness.
I don't
see a lot of help for our country.
And I see a lot of talk, no action.
He got into this business
at the very beginning of Trump's
take over of the Republican Party.
Taylor is a serial entrepreneur
and attention seeker,
and he prayed to God to guide him
while selling racing merch
at the Daytona 500.
My son said, Dad, what's God telling you?
I said, came in my spirit.
He wants me to help Trump.
I said, I'm order of thousand t shirts.
He said, Dad, but that's crazy.
You know how crazy you get this?
Get 100. I said, Go big or go home, boy.
I said, If God's telling me,
we'll sell everyone I'm not with home.
Trash can leave.
All we had was a white T-shirt,
said the hard events.
Fire The Idiots
Trump 2016 on the front,
red, white and blue
and on the back
it says Finally someone with balls,
Donald J. Trump Okay.
And I became known
as the Balls Man on the tour.
Taylor opened the
store in the fall of 2020,
inside 100 year old church.
After the election,
the big seller was Stop the steal.
Did you think the election was stolen?
There is no doubt
the election was stolen. Yeah.
And what did you think of January six?
It was a bad thing,
but if you look back,
you actually look at the tapes and stuff.
They were let in,
but they still
should have never went inside of God.
You never go in
somebody's house or a house,
a public house like. Yeah.
Does that complicate
what you think of Trump at all that he.
No. No, definitely not.
Because he definitely didn't
tell them Go and storm the house.
Would you have any interest
in running this store
if Trump weren't so controversial?
I doubt it.
I like this controversy.
You know,
we need something that we can laugh about
and be happy about.
There's liberals
that think they can come in here
and actually tell me what to do.
The last one was a professor from U.N.C.
She was just telling me
what a great job, but
do not try to tell her to leave.
But do you not appreciate
her coming in
and wanting to mix it up a little bit?
Oh, I love it.
Yeah,
but she don't want to hear what I have,
so she wanted me to only hear
what she had to say.
You've said
that you want to rename this town
Trump Town.
Why not? The Boones are dead.
The mill is gone.
Let's change.
Do you think
other people support you at that?
Not really.
But it doesn't really matter.
It's good controversy
if it never happens.
Ellie Reeve, CNN, Boones Mill, Virginia.