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Donald Trump dropped $378,000 on 'Make America Great Again' hats in 2015's final quarter

The infamous red baseball caps accounted for 6 percent of his campaign's total spending in the last quarter of 2015.
A vendor sells merchandise outside a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the airport on Jan. 29, 2016 in Dubuque, Iowa. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty)
A vendor sells merchandise outside a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the airport on Jan. 29, 2016 in Dubuque, Iowa.

Donald Trump’s campaign spent $378,069 on his “Make America Great Again” hats in the last three months of 2015, and he’s footing most of the bill, according to Trump’s 2015 fourth quarter report filed Sunday to the Federal Elections Commission.

The report also said the Republican presidential nominee spent a total of $6.6 million from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2015, meaning 6 percent of Trump’s spending in the three-month period funded his red hats.

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Trump loaned his campaign $10.8 million during the final quarter of 2015. Individual donors also pitched in $2.3 million since Oct. 1 to his campaign, according to the Washington Post.

The cost of the hats ranges from $20–30 on Trump’s campaign website. It is unknown how much he profits from the hats – a detail that is not mandated by the FEC.

Republican presidential nominee Ben Carson also spent a large sum of money on merchandise, shelling out $538,230.97 for shirts, hats and pins, according to his fourth quarter 2015 FEC report. Carson’s baseball hats now cost $15.40, on sale from their original $22 price tag.

Trump applied for the trademark rights for the Ronald Reagan slogan “Make America Great Again” in November 2012 but didn’t receive the rights until July of 2015. The trademark rights only apply to “political action committee services,” according to the application. Trump also applied to extend the trademark to cover his hats and other merchandise items on Aug. 13, but will not likely see an approval for years, according to CNN.

Sen. Ted Cruz mocked Trump’s hats on Wednesday by selling his own baseball cap that reads “Make Trump Debate Again.” Cruz’s hat refers to Trump skipping last week’s Republican debate on Fox.