Dezeen Magazine

President Flip Flops by Sam Morrison

Trump's contradictory tweets emblazoned on President Flip Flops

Rubber sandals have been designed by Sam Morrison with contradictory tweets posted by Donald Trump over the years on each foot.

President Flip Flops, created by Morrison, is a limited-edition series of flip flops that have straps with tweets by Donald Trump, who was elected US President in November 2016, and has a reputation for contradicting himself on social media.

President Flip Flops by Sam Morrison

The shoes have red rubber bases with tweets across the white straps. The quotes from Trump are about specific topics, with his antithetical tweets on the left and right feet. The dualistic design showcases Trump's ever-changing opinions.

"I wanted to highlight this hypocrisy," Morrison said in an interview with Dezeen. "The only person Donald Trump listens to is Donald Trump. So the objective was to use his own words to turn him into his own worst critic."

President Flip Flops by Sam Morrison

Morrison pulled the statements from Trump's Twitter account, which has over 40,000 tweets and has been active since March 2009 under the handle @realDonaldTrump.

The flip flops come in three versions, relating to the US Electoral College, Syria and anonymous sources and the media.

"I was looking for tweets that made for an obvious contradiction," Morrison said. "And while there have been many more flip-flopping tweets since President Flip Flops came out, at the time these were three solid choices."

President Flip Flops by Sam Morrison

The tweets showcase a swathe of history, with the earliest one selected by Morrison dating back to 2012. The most recent tweet used is from 8 April 2017, about the Syrian Civil War.

One flip flop reads: "Congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the United States, and the world, so well in Syria attack," Trump tweeted.

It refers to the US missile attack at Shayrat Airbase, controlled by the Syrian regime, launched days after one of the deadliest uses of chemical weapons in the war by the Syrian government, in the town of Khan Shaykhun.

Contrasting with this opinion about Syria is a tweet by Trump on 5 September 2013, four a half years earlier. Here, he presents a more critical view of the war in Syria, and of President Obama who was in office at the time.

"AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA - IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING!", he tweeted.

These opposing tweets by Trump are stickered one on each sandal, and when worn together, display Trump's wavering opinion about the war in Syria.

President Flip Flops by Sam Morrison

Trump's knack for capitalisation is showcased in the President Flip Flop shoes, as well as his reputation for using certain adverbs and adjectives, like "very", "many" and "bad".

The second topic covered by Morrison's flip flops is the US Electoral College, which Trump has claimed over the years to be both "a disaster for a democracy" (on 7 November 2012, immediately after the re-election of President Obama) and "genius" (on 15 November 2016, a week after Trump won the election).

The third design features a tweet in which Trump reminds his followers not to believe "sources said by the VERY dishonest media". The other foot suggests that "an 'extremely credible source' has just called my office and told me that @BarackObama's birth certificate is a fraud".

President Flip Flops by Sam Morrison

Morrison made one thousand pairs of President Flip Flops, all of which have sold out. A portion of the profits will be going to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has challenged some of the Trump administration's proposed policy changes.

These include a travel ban on people from seven majority Muslim countries, as well as a ban on transgender people serving in the US military.

President Flip Flops by Sam Morrison

More flip-flop designs are planned, given that there are still thousands of tweets to reference, and Trump continues to tweet. "There has been an overwhelming demand, so I’m seeing if it's feasible to do another edition," Morrison said.

Another Trump-related topic that has also received criticism recently is a steel slatted barrier along the US-Mexico border, whose design was released last month. Trump has vehemently argued for this border for months, and refers to it as "the Wall".