Leave it to Trump to capitalize on a growing trend among a subset of Americans — a sort of respect for "merch" culture.

I'm thinking about a few YouTube channels I watch related to hobbies and interests. Some of the channels are highly subscribed and some are not. But pretty much all of them offer breathtaking pitches for "our exciting merch," or words to that effect.

And my age, 62, that's a huge turn off. To deliberately pitch coffee mugs and t-shirts and other cheap products with logos — That's not something I find dignified or respectable. My unconscious reaction is that if somebody is deliberately trying to sell me something, then I can't trust their motivations or artistic impulses.

But I think that's a dying value.

Younger Americans seem to love the whole "merch" phenomenon. YouTubers seem get so excited about it. And consumers too. Rather than finding the merch-pedaling off putting, they seem attracted to it.

I'm not saying that's an inherently wrong or bad attitude, but it's certainly not what I'm accustomed to.

Leave it to Trump to put his finger on that emerging new value, and do his level best to profit from it.