MAGA cultists bet big on Trump’s latest grift

On Tuesday, Donald Trump’s newest grift went public—within the stock-market sense of the phrase. Trump Media & Expertise Group, which at this level consists of the cobbled-together fake-Twitter social media website Fact Social and never a lot else, accomplished its merger with the gloriously sketchy special-purpose acquisition firm Digital World Acquisition Corp, and can now be traded underneath the ominous ticker image “DJT.”

It is troublesome to elucidate simply how bizarre this all is. Digital World’s inventory worth has skyrocketed this yr, pushed largely by Trump supporters, which has even The Wall Road Journal shaking its head, calling it “paying homage to the 2021 meme inventory craze.” And Enterprise Insider ran down the numbers as of Monday, and the entire scheme sounds ridiculous.

As an example, Fact Social—the one significant product right here—made simply $3.4 million through the first three quarters of 2023—and misplaced a whopping $49 million throughout the identical interval. These are catastrophic numbers, and there is no purpose to anticipate them to get higher. The social media website has a microscopic attain by trade requirements, with solely about 5 million members as of February, in accordance with CBS Information. The positioning is most often called the place Trump and his acolytes go to share memes together with his proper, alt-right, and even-more-alt-right-than-that followers.

The newly merged firm, nonetheless, “might be price round $5.7 billion and a well timed $3 billion increase for Trump,” stories Enterprise Insider. That is as a result of Digital World shares closed above $45 on Monday, hovering as Trump followers publicly boosted the inventory and bragged to one another about shopping for it. 

The worth soared once more on Tuesday morning, bringing the corporate worth to an even much less believable $6.8 billion or so. Trump owns almost 60% of the post-merger firm, which does not simply imply he immediately turns into, on paper, over $4 billion richer. It additionally greater than doubles his whole internet price, catapulting him for the primary time in his sorry life into turning into one of many world’s 500 richest folks.

And once more, that is due to a flippin’ meme inventory. From The Wall Road Journal:

“I purchased a number of occasions final Monday & Tuesday, little by little to point out assist of the inventory,” mentioned a Fact Social person going by the deal with of fantasticblush.

“This can be a Fact Motion and it doesn’t matter what occurs tomorrow this merger will occur tomorrow or sooner or later,” mentioned Fact Social person ajdelval. “We are going to win this conflict it doesn’t matter what.” […]

DWAC shares, which closed Thursday at $42.81, are “not buying and selling on fundamentals, completely not,” mentioned Kristi Marvin, chief government of SPACInsider.com. “Establishments will not be buying and selling this.”

Establishments could not wish to contact DJT with a 10-foot pole, so it has been as much as Trump’s followers to spice up the inventory in what seems suspiciously like a pump-and-dump scheme egged on within the normal meme-stock method—however one that will or could not embody Donald Trump himself. In concept, Trump is barred from divesting himself of his inventory for about six months; in follow, in accordance with Liz Dye at Public Discover, all Donald must do to interrupt that prohibition is the approval of the corporate’s board—and the “board” of this market abomination is so filled with Trump’s personal private allies as to make {that a} nonissue.

Up to now, Dye has supplied the perfect abstract of the Fact Social rise into public buying and selling. She identifies this as much less a “meme inventory” and extra a “cult.” On this case, it is a cult of people who find themselves completely hellbent on handing Donald Trump all their cash.

As with all the things Trump does, this complete factor seems to be a collection of nested grifts. What’s unclear is whether or not this can be a quick time period play — just like the Trump NFTs and buying and selling playing cards, solely scaled method up — or a long run scheme — alongside the strains of the Trump Lodge in DC, the place companies, international governments, and the GOP trustworthy opened up their wallets to curry favor with the sitting president.

Will Trump dump his shares shortly and money out earlier than the entire thing goes stomach up? Will he dangle onto the shares in hopes that he wins the White Home and may then spend 4 years promoting high-priced advert area to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, coal firms, and each Republican candidate who is aware of what’s good for him? Will he wait till he takes workplace after which keep away from an enormous tax invoice by calling the sale of his shares a compelled divestiture incident to authorities service?

Baked into that is assumption {that a} man who owns a majority of shares in a publicly traded firm would get the board to change the lockup so he can execute what is actually a pump and dump scheme with a purpose to pay a large civil fraud fantastic and authorized charges in reference to dozens of prison expenses throughout 4 indictments. Or that he would overtly monetize public workplace by accepting emoluments. All of which is so loopy that it doesn’t even make sense in any context apart from Trump.

Dye notes that previous meme-stock episodes have been from small-time traders “making an attempt to make some money and stick it to the hedge funds,” however on this case, the pro-Trump memers seem like shopping for up the inventory as an expression of fealty to the coup-attempting flesh-lump of economic fraud they’ve devoted themselves to propping up.

However few of these memers seem to grasp that handing your cash to Donald Trump is, because it seems, some of the efficient methods to lose cash. There already was a “DJT” inventory ticker as soon as upon a time, in spite of everything, and would-be traders may wish to be taught what occurred to that former Trump enterprise earlier than signing on for the brand new model.

It is troublesome to know methods to really feel about all of this. On one hand, having the chief of a brand new worldwide fascist resurgence make off with $4 billion or extra in inventory is completely enraging. Then again, there may be up to now no proof of any institutional investing on this new absurdity of an organization; we do not but have phrase that it is Saudi royalty or Russian oligarchs making an attempt to launder their money by way of this rip-off, and up to now, it seems that the corporate’s inventory worth is being propped up largely by pro-Donald cultists who’re handing him their cash with out even contemplating the state of affairs by which Trump dumps his inventory and leaves them holding an empty company shell.

And if anybody really deserves to have Trump steal their cash and break their lives, it is his followers. You actually cannot argue towards it. The face-eating leopards need to eat someone’s faces, in spite of everything, and if persons are lining as much as get their faces eaten, then it is troublesome to muster up the power to attempt to discuss them out of it.

A complete lotta persons are seemingly going to develop into a lot poorer by the point this newest episode of the Trump Grift reaches its denouement. Sadly, these persons are among the many loudest, angriest folks within the nation—they usually most likely will not take it very properly if and when it occurs.

However there’s one thing else odd about this case. Donald Trump’s remaining noninstitutional followers have tens of millions of {dollars} to throw at Expensive Chief? Actually? That’s … very shocking.

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