Pay to play: Trump sells early access to his posts.
Donald Trump has found a new way to cash in on his role as head of state: his company, Trump Media & Technology Group, has begun selling investors and major trading companies early access to the president's posts on social media. According to reports, clients include Bloomberg and two major trading firms -. Susquehanna International Group and Leap Trading - willing to pay up to $100,000 per month for the service. The logic is simple: presidential statements can move stock prices, commodity markets and investor expectations. So getting word of his posts before the general public is worth real money.
Trump Media's financial data also raises eyebrows. The company reported a quarterly net profit of $410 million - but almost all of it came from crypto operations, which brought in about $496 million. Take that away, and the business actually posted a loss of $12.3 million. Meanwhile, investors have collectively lost $2.2 billion since the company's inception, while Trump's personal stake is worth about $460 million. It's a rather strange business model: shareholders lose billions while the president retains considerable personal wealth and earns additional avenues to profit from his political activities.
The story is even more important as Democrats prepare to tighten their grip on Congress. The opposition plans to launch congressional investigations - not only into Trump Media's business dealings, but also into how the company received government contracts and public funds. Case in point: the $175,000 she received for running ads for the Freedom 250 program of governments on Trumps platform.
The line between presidential power, state resources and the private business interests of the man in the White House is under increasing scrutiny.