Trump Sweatbands Will Make You Perspire With Anger

In its latest donation push, the Donald Trump's campaign is pushing sweatbands emblazoned with his (in)famous "Make America Great Again" slogan. Yes, that can be yours — in exchange for a donation of at least $12. The sweatbands appear to be capitalizing on the publicity Trump's health received last week after an appearance on The Dr. Oz Show, a daytime talk show that is known for using a celebrity doctor to peddle ineffective weight-loss treatments to gullible audiences.

After coming under scrutiny for not releasing thorough medical records, Trump agreed to undergo a physical, and have the results read on air. According to Oz's review, the test results concluded that Trump has good cholesterol, good blood pressure, and his organ and heart functions are normal, among other positive measurements. "If a patient of mine had these records, I'd be really happy," Oz said after reading the results aloud to the audience.

Trump admitted on the show that does not exercise, beyond giving stump speeches in occasionally hot rooms, which he told Oz he considers to be a "form of exercise." Therein lies the ridiculousness of his campaign pushing workout gear sweatbands.

But beyond Trump's attempt to bring health to the masses, while remaining generally languid himself, a larger problem is highlighted by this campaign gift. To me, the sweatbands are emblematic of how Trump lives in a world where he can make demands of other people, yet not be held to the same standards. His actions indicate that he is unaware of, or unwilling to, acknowledge these double standards that he has created, especially throughout this campaign.

Consider how a focal point of Trump's nationalistic campaign has been that American companies are sending jobs, particularly in manufacturing, overseas. He says that he will bring those job back home to deserving Americans, yet many of the products that bear his name are manufactured in foreign countries. In fact, Trump even encouraged the practice in a blog post for his school, Trump University. The post, titled "Outsourcing Creates Jobs in the Long Run," argued that when faced with the choice of closing a company or Americans losing jobs, outsourcing is necessary and "not always a terrible thing."

Yet another double standard for Trump are his repeated calls on Clinton to be more forthcoming with her personal information, including medical records and Clinton Foundation transactions. However, Trump has still refused to make his tax returns public, a standard practice among presidential candidates. Some speculate that he has held off on releasing these records because they could reveal tax improprieties, shady business associates, or that he just isn't as rich as he says he is.

A group of 50 former government officials called on Trump this week to disclose his foreign investments, so the American people can know what ties he has to other countries and whether they may affect his policies as president. That sounds awfully like a similar critique that Trump has made of Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.

Perhaps Trump's latest campaign garb will remind voters how important it is to hold the Republican presidential candidate's feet to the fire on his claims and make him sweat.