People point out bizarre similarity between Trump phone and Disney's Scrooge McDuck's gold coins
Even the mention of DuckTales will likely have you tapping your toes and singing along to that catchy theme tune, but depending on your age, you might be thinking of the 1987 original or the 2017 reboot.
Either way, the shows made stars of Scrooge McDuck and his grand-nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
Much like the A Christmas Carol character he's based on, Scrooge is a penny-pinching businessman who's known for being tight with his money.
Anyone who's watched the show is sure to have wanted to jump into Scrooge McDuck's giant vault of coins at the Money Bin, although we doubt it would be as comfy as the miserable mallard made it look.
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While we're not sure President Donald Trump is quite as rich as Scrooge, he's recently released his T1 smartphone to try and add a few more dollars to his bank balance.
Some thought the T1 would never see the light of day, with many branding it a 'scam'. Even now that the $499 gold-plated phone has been released, it's still caught in a storm of controversy as it's slammed for seemingly using AI marketing materials.
CNET has given its own review of the 'Trump Phone', saying that its "gold color is ornate, bordering on gaudy." The model has apparently changed a lot from those first renders from June 2025, and while the American flag remains, it appears to be missing a few stripes. The standard wallpaper is said to be a Trump-esque royal blue with simple Trump Mobile branding, although you can change it if it's not to your taste.
Seemingly as another dig, CNET notes it has a waterfall display design that was popular on Android phones "three to five years ago." There's a close to stock version of Android 15, although the outlet questions how many years of support Trump Mobile will offer.
For your $499, you also get a case, wall charger, and gold-colored USB lead, as well as a tiny manual that's only in English. As you can imagine, the Trump-backed Truth Social comes as standard, whereas apps like X, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok can be installed from the Google Play Store.
TRUMP MOBILE PHONES HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED 📱🇺🇸😳
— Caleb Parke (@calebparke) May 19, 2026
President Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr., launched Trump Mobile last year with a $47.45/month phone plan and a gold-colored “Trump T1” smartphone.
Now, nine months after the promised launch date, the $499 phone is officially… pic.twitter.com/47McSssEPF
The plastic back apparently takes on different colors depending on the lighting, with it being described as everything from mustard to khaki. There's also a hilarious description that states: "And in this photo, the Trump Phone's gold color looks very similar to the gold coins that the cartoon character Scrooge McDuck used to dive into on the show DuckTales."
These visual grumbles could be the least of the T1's problems, with YouTubers Coffeezilla and penguinz0 claiming there's been a leak of a customer database that includes everything from email addresses to names. Coffeezilla warned: "Everything short of a credit card number is being leaked."
With some 27,000 people's details potentially out there in the wild, Trump Mobile said it's investigating the issue "with the assistance of independent cybersecurity professionals."
Still, if you want to cosplay as Scrooge McDuck and fancy spending $499 on what's said to effectively be a revamped version of the 2024 HTC U24 Pro, you could always stump up for the T1.