from the paying-tribute-to-a-mad-king dept

Trump’s Dodgy ‘Media Company’ Claims 205% Revenue Jump After Charging For Early Access To The President’s Brain Farts

The increasingly unpopular president’s ability to cash in on his position shows no sign of showing down.

Earlier this year you might recall that Truth Social, the president’s dodgy, propaganda, tribute, and social media company, began charging customers for early access to Trump’s incoherent tirades and brain farts. More specifically, the “Truth API” allowed news organizations, trading firms and other companies to pay $60,000 to $100,000 per month for a direct feed of early posts on the social network.

Given the fact this was yet another way for companies and donors to curry favor with the president, and gain early access to potentially market-impacting (idiotic) decisions, the move was rightfully criticized as more corrupt insider trading bullshit in an ocean of corrupt, Trump-era, insider trading bullshit.

For whatever it’s worth, Truth Social now claims it saw a 205 percent revenue jump on the back of the new offering:

“Trump Media and Technology Group reported Monday that revenue surged 205% in the third quarter, which it says was “primarily driven” by selling a high-speed feed of posts on Truth Social.”

Its filings indicate that about 60 percent of the company’s revenue now comes from this patronage early access system. There’s of course no way to independently confirm these financials in a country where the SEC, the courts, and lobbying and campaign finance regulators have been hollowed out like a cheap Dollar Store fake chocolate Easter bunny.

Bloomberg is among the companies that thought it was the good idea to pay for early access to Trump’s verbal diarrhea, but the news company hasn’t much been interested in talking when approached by other news organizations for comment. Most of the news organizations covering the company’s earnings, including Bloomberg and Comcast NBC, curiously “forgot” to mention most of its very dodgy history.

For example, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), and the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that took it public, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), settled a civil investigation in 2023 for $18 million over “material misrepresentations” in its IPO filings. At one point the DOJ also charged three people (including a former DWAC board member) with insider trading amidst additional uncharged allegations of Russia-linked money laundering.

You’d have to assume more transparency (and charges) could come later if a reconstituted Congress prioritizes an investigation and some well-placed subpoenas.

While Trump Media has a purported market valuation of $1.13 billion, the company stock is down 69% so far this year. Once Trump’s power collapses and this dodgy patronage machine no longer serves its purpose, you have to wonder exactly what kind of sad and sorry rubes will be left holding the bag.