Donald Trump has so blatantly monetized the presidency that his social media company sees no reason to mince words about what it is now selling: early access to the president’s market-shifting pronouncements.
This month, Truth Social, of which Trump is the largest shareholder, began selling for reportedly up to $100,000 a month a slightly early peak at the president’s posts. Although that’s maybe only a few milliseconds ahead of everyone else, the head start could be valuable to anyone who uses computer algorithms to automatically trigger stock market trades whenever world developments warrant it, such as the pronouncements of the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet.
Trump has been known to announce policy changes first on Truth Social. Those announcements also have been known to immediately influence the market. Truth Social is counting on investment banks, hedge funds and other major investors being willing to pay richly to get the president’s thinking ahead of everyone else.
Critics of this latest money-making scheme by a Trump company compare it to insider trading, such as when an industry or government insider shares secret information with an outside person, who then trades on the tip. Truth Social counters that there’s nothing “secret” about the information, that the president’s social media posts are public record. That’s only true, however, milliseconds later, and those milliseconds make a difference. If they didn’t, there would be no market for early access.
It’s also troubling that this scheme is creating a financial incentive for the president to be even more unpredictable than normal. Much of Trump’s influence on the market is rooted in his erratic nature, talking tough one day, then backing off the next. It’s often hard to predict what’s going to come out of his mouth or brain. The more he demonstrates that the stock market moves with his every word on the war in Iran, tariffs and a host of other issues, the more his company can make on selling early access to his Truth Social posts.
If this isn’t illegal, it should be.
