The application said the phrase was to be used for “political action committee service, namely, promoting public awareness of political issues and fundraising in the field of politics.”

A standard sworn declaration bore Trump’s signature. It said in part that to the best of his knowledge “no other person, from corporation, or association has the right to use the mark in commerce, either in the identical form thereof or in such near resemblance thereto as to be likely, when used on or in connection with the goods/services of such other person, to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive.”

This past March, two and a half years after he filed for the trademark, Trump was quoted saying, “The line of ‘Make America great again,’ the phrase, that was mine, I came up with it about a year ago, and I kept using it, and everybody’s now using it, they are all loving it.

“I don’t know, I guess I should copyright it.” He added, “Maybe I have copyrighted it.”