Pay to play

 

With some exceptions, I've mostly stayed away from politics. I do have a few "embarrassed to be a conservative" posts though, and it's time for another. While there are many aspects of Joe Biden's policies with which I disagreed, and several policies professed by Donald Trump with which I concur (though far from all), it's horrifying to me to see the "in your face" grift exemplified by the Trump meme coin ($Trump).

It's true that, to within epsilon, 100% of meme coins are worthless (other than in the sense of the "greater fool" exploit) and only benefit the initial promoters. And I've felt little sorrow for those who've lost money in, for example, the $Hawk coin promoted by the Hawk Tuah Girl. Yes, she and her team did the prototypical rug pull and buyers of the coin mostly just gave away their money to her and her team. But, what did they actually expect to happen? Come on...

But to see Trump, days away from swearing in as our 47th President, promote a meme coin where he is in control of the large majority (80%) of the coins and watch as his supporters purchase the coins is despicable. Trump and his supporters often speak of the machinations of the Deep State, wherein malign agents, embedded deep within the government, work in secret to undermine freedom and advance a New World Order agenda.

But Trump can't be bothered with working in the dark to promote himself and his personal enrichment, one might call Trump and his ilk the Shallow State. His self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment is out in front, for all to see.

And, not to be outdone, next came the $Melania coin from the First Lady. Both coins, initially and unsurprisingly, soared in value as the zealots rushed to funnel their money to their heroes. Prices have since fallen back somewhat, so some have already lost money. Now, it is true that you cannot take the number of coins held by the Trump group, multiply by the current posted value, and determine that Trump has made billions overnight through this obviously corrupt grift. Were he to dump all of his coins, the market would tank.

Nevertheless, he could sell them slowly into the market. My bet would be that, when some wild Trump event takes place, the value of the coins will rise and he'll make small sales into that market. But, as I type, the price of a Trump coin is $29.53. The total supply of coins is 1 billion, and Trump owns 80% of them. Keep in mind, they were created out of thin air, a few minutes of programming was all it took.

That's our President. As someone noted, we voted for corruption, and Trump is delivering.