Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders leading the candidate kippah race
Donald Trump’s brand is taking America by storm. Bernie Sanders supporters are rising up in the streets.
Such is the state of the presidential candidate kippah business, according to Marc Daniels. The Jewish-head-covering tycoon has been selling kippot online and at campaign rallies for months, but the whims of the electorate remain a mystery to him.
“It’s strange there’s such a disparity,” he said, unable to offer a definitive explanation.
On Daniel’s website, marcsjubilee.com, Trump trumps everyone, with 203 kippot sold. Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont running as a Democrat, is a distant second (77), followed by his rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (31).
Trump’s Republican competitors, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (23) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (6), come in fourth and fifth, respectively.
At rallies, on the other hand, Sanders supporters are the biggest buyers. Daniels sold out of all 20-some kippot he brought to the Millennials March for Bernie in lower Manhattan on Saturday. By contrast, he could barely unload three Clinton kippot at a recent get-out-the vote event for her campaign.
Daniels first realized how much Sanders supporters were feeling the kippah-Bern when he sold 30 head coverings at a March 12 rally for the Jewish candidate in Bloomington, Illinois.
“With Bernie, Jewish or not, people want to identify with the Jewish guy,” he said.
Last month, though, Sanders failed to show up at the Super Bowl of candidate kippah sales events — the American Israel Public Affairs policy conference — leaving the field wide open for Trump.
At the AIPAC confab in Washington, D.C., Daniels sold 10 Trump kippot, and had to turn down requests for about 40 more after his supply ran out. Clinton came in next at 15, then Sanders at 10 and Cruz at 5.
Those of us whose favorite — or at least home-state — candidate is no longer in the running need not despair. Daniels still is selling Chris Christie 2016 kippot. He’s just moved them into the Purim 2017 category.
JTA Wire Service
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