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Re: Today in Trump
In May, Trump Media announced quarterly revenue of $770,500 and losses of $328 million. “It’s a company that essentially has the revenue of not even a medium-size McDonald’s franchise,” says John Rekenthaler, a researcher at Morningstar. “To those of us who are outside the MAGA bubble, it’s bizarre. It is this tiny business that is going nowhere.” Jay Ritter, an expert on public financing and an economics professor at the University of Florida, describes Trump Media and Truth Social as “amazingly unsuccessful.” He says, “This had a brand name, so it was differentiated from the run-of-the-mill start-up social-media companies. But they have not come up with a successful business model that has generated content, generated advertising revenue, generated paying subscribers. Or even nonpaying subscribers, for that matter.” The company has indicated it wants to expand into new areas, but few expect it will do any better. When Trump Media announced a plan to get into streaming, a business that tends to burn cash, the stock dropped 14 percent.
At times, Trump Media has been the market’s single-most-expensive stock to short, or bet against. On Wall Street, there has long been a nearly unanimous assumption that Trump will begin to liquidate his position as soon as he is able, leaving his supporters holding increasingly worthless shares. But his ongoing strength in the polls and the stock’s corresponding persistence now point to another possibility: that he will return to office and retain his multibillion-dollar stake. And that’s where things would get truly uncharted.
While watchdog groups and congressional Democrats might see Trump holding shares of DJT as president as a violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, they would likely struggle to find a viable way to object, save another impeachment. Meanwhile, the arrangement would open up unprecedented channels for corruption. Especially now that the Supreme Court has defanged the Securities and Exchange Commission and all but immunized presidents from criminal prosecution for official acts, Trump would have little reason to divest or put his shares in a blind trust. Trump Media could win lucrative government contracts. Anyone looking to curry favor with Trump could buy advertising on Truth Social at inflated prices, effectively filtering cash to the company’s largest shareholder. Billionaires could buy up shares of DJT, boosting Trump’s net worth, at the same time they have business before the government — a merger they want to survive antitrust scrutiny, say, or a matter before the Federal Communications Commission. People seeking influence or favors — anyone from a rich guy who wants to be an ambassador to a criminal looking for a pardon — could buy stock to demonstrate their fealty. And in the realm of the stupid but plausible, what if the shitlords of r/wallstreetbets offer Trump a quid pro quo — they’ll pump his stock if he renames an aircraft carrier the USS Stonks? The possibilities are as unbounded as Trump’s capacity for self-interest......
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/arti...orruption.html
When election night comes in November, it will be up to thousands of local election officials to certify election results in their counties. Among those election officials are scores of Donald Trump supporters who believe his lies and conspiracies about stolen elections — and will be in prime position to act on those beliefs to try to aid his campaign in November.
In the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, Rolling Stone and American Doom identified at least 70 pro-Trump election conspiracists currently working as county election officials who have questioned the validity of elections or delayed or refused to certify results. At least 22 of these county election officials have refused or delayed certification in recent years.
Certification of election results is what legal experts consider a “ministerial task,” and one required by state and local law. But as Trump’s lies about the 2020 election have taken hold, Republicans nationwide have decided that certification provides them an opportunity to hear fraud allegations — and refuse to officially count their local votes. Republicans have refused to certify election results at least 25 times since Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
“I think we are going to see mass refusals to certify the election” in November, says Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias. “Everything we are seeing about this election is that the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared.”
[...]
Elias, the Democratic election lawyer, believes the findings in this investigation only represent “the tip of the iceberg,” because Republicans “are counting on not just that they can disrupt the election in big counties, they are counting on the fact that if they don’t certify in several small counties, you cannot certify these statewide results.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...rs-1235069692/
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. Sad thing is it was all too predictable.
Originally Posted by Spicoli
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