Sunday Painting: “Frozen Creek”
Plus, Day 49: the Shocking "Trump Coin" Money Grab
Day 49 — January 18, 2025
It went down so quickly that people are still trying to dissect what happened, but it appears that Donald Trump and his family took a big step toward Putin-style self-enrichment through an explosion of a brand new Trump faux crypto currency. In a single day, he may have catapulted himself to the greatest wealth he’s ever had—up to $25 billion—doing so only days before he becomes America’s next president.
Trump launched $Trump—his own “meme-linked cryptocurrency” (which has no actual value and can never be used as actual currency)—while he was personally attending what was called the “Crypto Ball” for the industry. With and because of his personal endorsement, the currency’s value skyrocketed by 600%, to a value of $32 billion. The prime beneficiary appears to be Trump and his family, because 80% of the supply is held by Trump-affiliated organizations (including one called “Fight Fight Fight.”).
I don’t claim to be an expert in this field, but someone who understands it well told me: “It's just about the most shocking thing I've ever witnessed.”
Here’s his son Eric bragging about it:
The entire episode raises enormous issues, including:
who is Trump enriching in addition of himself and his family? (Who got dealt in on the deal?)
who is dropping millions (and more) to do the enriching only days before the inauguration? Does Trump know who they are? And what does he now owe them?
how many everyday Trump supporters will get taken to the cleaners when the value of this “meme” plummets (with Trump and his buddies already having cashed out)?
To understand how scammy the entire thing is, here’s an article in Axios. I also found the video below helpful—including the description of maneuvers like this as “schemes that resemble pyramids”:
In short, yes—Donald Trump remains a con artist, is willing to dupe his followers into losing money for his own enrichment, and he’s willing to leverage the presidency to make the most that he can.
And he’ll be sworn in as President tomorrow.
One of the obvious reasons for people to "invest" in this is to pass money to Trump "legally" (I suppose) so they really don't care if it crashes - that's what passing money means. The reason for it to go so high isn't purely Trump's name and any faith in his business acumen but the belief that he Is crooked and that he Will provide favors for those who use this as well as other avenues to pass him money. He might as well have used a table (as in under-the fame) as the image for the crypto.
Citizen United on steroids. Thanks John Roberts…. The deciding vote in the 5/4 decision.
America, the Farewell Tour starts tomorrow.