Grifter in chief: Trump finds a new way to exploit his MAGA minions
Donald Trump’s list of grifts is seemingly endless, but his new stake in the cryptocurrency market might bring one of his biggest cash hauls yet.
Earlier this week, the first convicted felon to be elected U.S. president launched his own meme coin, $TRUMP, sending the value of his self-titled digital currency (briefly) skyrocketing.
For those who don’t quite understand the crypto market, meme coins or tokens rose to popularity in 2013 and have been used by celebrities and influencers alike to cash in on their brand and notoriety. But because of the lack of regulation around cryptocurrency, some high-profile hucksters have also managed a “rug pull” on the giddy fans who hoped that investing in their favorite celeb’s new coin would help them get rich.
A “rug pull” is a term used to describe when creators of a digital coin—which has a limited supply—sell most or all of their personal stake after their fans substantially increase the value. This subsequently tanks the value of the coin and sends fans’ investments tumbling.
A recent example of this scenario: Haliey Welch, who rose to fame as the “Hawk Tuah” girl. After she gained overnight fame thanks to a bawdy viral video, Welch launched a podcast and later her own meme coin, $HAWK.
The value of Welch’s coin soared after its December launch—but the value plummeted a mere two hours later and Welch’s fans felt they were part of a “pump and dump” or “rug pull” scheme. Welch has been wrapped up in legal battles over the matter ever since.
Welch’s team claims that what happened wasn’t a “rug pull” and places the blame on single parties buying a majority of the coins and quickly selling them for a profit.
But the exploitation of buyers who are investing in crypto based on fandom alone is a major concern that ties back to Trump's meme coin ventures. Crypto expert and fraud investigator Stephen Findeisen, known as Coffeezilla, expressed his disdain for Trump’s latest marketing gimmick on X.
Findeisen noted that “most” of the people destined to lose money on the $TRUMP coin will be his MAGA supporters, while 80% of the tokens will be vested to insiders during Trump’s presidency.
“[This] should be a crime but crime is legal now [I guess?],” he wrote.
Jessica Tillipman, an anti-corruption and government ethics professor at George Washington University, told Daily Kos that this “black box” of potential profit Trump stands to gain from crypto sits atop a list of many other grifts in Trump’s back pocket.
And as Tillipman points out, there are no actual laws stopping a president from profiting off of the people he was elected to serve. Past presidents have acted in good faith without the pressure of legal ramifications—but Trump has never met a norm he wasn’t happy to trample on.
“We've always relied on this system of norms,” she explained. “I think people were pretty surprised to see how few restrictions there were on what a president could do, because we hadn't seen this before.”
While restrictions are in place for presidential infractions such as outright bribery, crypto offers a grey area allowing foreign investors to potentially dump large funds into the coins as a workaround, Tillipman speculates.
Trump’s appointed artificial intelligence and crypto czar David Sacks has been notably silent on the $TRUMP launch. Daily Kos reached out to the tech investor and former Paypal CEO for comment but did not immediately hear back.
No one knows how much Trump will net from his (or his wife Melania’s) meme coins. Some finance experts have speculated the windfall could reach the billions, as the value of the individual coins shoots up to $40 or more for the 200 million coins in rotation. A total of 1 billion coins will be “unlocked” over the course of three years, according to Quartz.
While a Trump-affiliated company owns 80% of the coins, no one knows exactly how many of the coins are owned directly by the president. And even as Trump pushes his branding, his crypto trading platform, World Liberty Financial, is making multimillion-dollar moves as well.
All in all, Trump is virtually guaranteed to profit from crypto—regardless of how his personal coin venture turns out.
Bibles, cologne, shoes, and now meme coins are fueling Trump’s never-ending grift—and the newly inaugurated president stands to make untold millions off the very people who elected him in hopes that he would save them a buck or two on eggs and gas.