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At this point, it’s not exactly dropping a dime to say that the Trump family’s effort to make a quick buck by turning the presidency into a crypto cash cow is going to cost America’s reputation a pretty penny—enriching a family that shouldn’t have two nickels to rub together while much of America struggles to afford the dollar store. At this point, the financial shenanigans are a dime a dozen, but perhaps none have been as brazen as the selling of access to the president of the United States to a leaderboard of purchasers of his coinage. “The memecoin dinner … was unlike anything in recent American history — not a campaign fund-raiser but a gathering arranged by the president’s business partners to directly enrich the first family. As guests were flowing into the club, protesters held signs with slogans like ‘Stop Crypto Corruption,’ ‘Release the guest list’ and ‘No Kings.'” Knowing the Trumps, those signs will probably be made into NFTs that will be sold off the highest bidder. NYT (Gift Article): Hundreds Join Trump at ‘Exclusive’ Dinner, With Dreams of Crypto Fortunes in Mind. Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon described the dinner as the Mount Everest of corruption. (Imagine an event standing out for its bribery and corruption during a week when Trump took ownership of a gifted 747.) Can America retain the trust and status required to be the world’s economic leader with a self-dealing, access-selling president in the Oval Office? Honestly, it’s probably a coin toss.
+ “The black-tie dinner was a special reward for the top 220 holders of the president’s personal $TRUMP meme coin, with those in the room having contributed millions in investment in his crypto token. The 25 biggest investors got an even more exclusive privilege — access to a small VIP reception with the president. Media reports estimate the purchases and associated fees of the coin have generated an estimated hundreds of millions in fees for its issuer.” Inside the room at Trump’s meme coin dinner.
+ Don’t worry. The Trumps aren’t keeping all the crypto gains to themselves. WSJ (Gift Article): The Father Pursues Trump’s Diplomatic Deals. The Son Chases Crypto Deals. “A month before President Trump’s inauguration, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff flew to the United Arab Emirates with two goals: discussing regional issues with the Abu Dhabi royal known as the ‘spy sheikh,’ and attending a cryptocurrency conference. Less than five months later, Witkoff’s son, co-founder of the crypto venture World Liberty Financial, took the stage at a conference in Dubai to announce the company had struck a deal for the sheikh’s company to buy $2 billion of their new cryptocurrency.”
+ “The racism and the corruption are coming together … as the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP coin join the president at a private dinner. A Bloomberg analysis of the top 25 wallets shows that 19 are owned by individuals from outside the United States, and many of the winners are companies looking for access to the president. Many of them dumped their $TRUMP coins as soon as they made the cut for the dinner. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported today that 50 of the people attending Trump’s dinner tonight hold crypto assets with names from the alt-right, including Pepe the Frog and swastikas, or that have names that are racist or antisemitic, including the n-word and ‘F*CK THE JEWS.'” Heather Cox Richardson connects all the dots, from the House budget bill to the immigrant fear-mongering to the meme coins. Corruption is the bow that ties it all together.
