While Donald Trump appears to be politically bulletproof, the more mundane world of finance — one through which he has conned, defrauded and litigated his way for decades — is proving more problematic, and may serve up a handy barometer of the fortunes of the once and possibly future president.
Tonight our time Trump faces the deadline to post a US$454 million bond, after Judge Arthur Engoron found he’d fraudulently inflated his wealth to secure loans and business deals. Trump has already had a month’s extension to find the money — US media reports says around 30 bond companies have refused to help him. It’s estimated the “billionaire” Trump actually has about US$300 million in liquid assets — but he already had to set aside US$100 million or so to put up a bond to cover the damages in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.
Since then, the mendicant monarch of Mar-a-Lago has been bombarding his supporters with demands for cash lest he be forced to surrender properties like Trump Tower.
Handily, last Friday, the sale of Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, finally went through. Trump received nearly 80 million shares in Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) for the sale of the platform. He is required to keep the shareholding for six months, but the board of the company — to be renamed Trump Media — can vote to lift that restriction, and it probably will seeing son Donald Trump Jr and other Trump cronies are on the board. While that would allow him to sell off shares to cover his legal costs much sooner, the identity of the buyer or buyers could be investigated by the US Federal Election Commission as a type of political donation.
Investors reacted to the deal by rushing for the exits: DWAC shares plunged by nearly 14% after it was approved. Their concern — beyond that Trump is likely to dump his shares as soon as possible — is about whether he and his platform can ultimately deliver enough revenue.
In reality, Truth Social — like so many Trump ventures — is one for the suckers: it has reported nearly US$50 million of losses over the first three financial quarters of 2023. It took in less than US$3.5 million in revenue during that time and its cash reserves are almost gone. It has around five million active subscribers; in comparison, even after Elon Musk systematically debauched the site, Twitter has over 200 million active daily users globally, and over 50 million monthly active users in the United States.
The new company, Trump Media, will use the ticker symbol DJT when it begins trading on Nasdaq as soon as before Easter. But its share price will become a very real barometer of his popularity and future prospects. No matter how much he claims to have in real estate assets and other private wealth, Trump Media’s share price will now become the measure of his success or otherwise. In the end, there simply may not be enough suckers to keep the new company afloat.
