Melania Trump’s Birthday Gift

Here’s a screenshot of the form included on the web page where email recipients were urged to “sign” the “card”:

In my experience, people earnestly collecting signatures for a birthday card don’t typically solicit the zip codes, email addresses, and mobile numbers of signatories, whereas political operatives find great value in information of that sort. Did the people working on behalf of Trump calculate that an honest request for personal information would be less effective than a ruse about a man wanting to do something nice for his wife’s birthday?

Read: Donald Trump is all alone

My suspicions only grew when, at the bottom of the page, I found this message:

By providing your phone number, you are consenting to receive calls and SMS/MMS messages, including autodialed and automated calls and texts, to that number from each of the participating committees in the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, Donald J. Trump for President Inc. and the Republican National Committee. Msg & data rates may apply.

Then, as I went to close the window in my web browser, this pop-up appeared:

I concluded that if I wanted to be sure my best wishes would reach the first lady, and my impulse would not be exploited, I’d better send them independently. Happy birthday, Melania. You deserve better than the people around you.

Conor Friedersdorf is a California-based staff writer at The Atlantic, where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.