Are you ready for the latest weird ex-president's family scam?

[thewayne]

Seems they're going to open a crypto currency financial platform. I'd say it's pretty much on-brand as he's already done NFTs and he's been talking about using crypto to eliminate the national debt, as if that would work. He's just throwing buzzwords out to try to get crypto bros supporting his sinking ship.

They've created a new Telegram channel called The DeFiant Ones, DeFi being a buzzword for this garbage. The platform hasn't launched yet.

This is going to be interesting to watch, as in a slow-moving train wreck, break out the popcorn. His family has zero experience in banking. Yes, they've sold NFTs. Yes, they accept cryptocurrency donations. And his latest financial disclosure forms shows he holds at least a million dollars in crypto. But starting a crypto platform takes a huge amount of money, much like opening a bank. And he doesn't have it. After stealing from his charity, and his extensive history of not paying contractors, why would anyone invest in something that he's most likely going to be skimming from?

I can't wait to see him follow Sam Bankman-Fried into prison, I only hope his two idiot sons are right there in orange jumpsuits right next to him.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/22/trump-crypto-defi-protocol-launch.html

https://slashdot.org/story/24/08/22/2254242/trump-promotes-familys-new-crypto-platform-the-defiant-ones

Comments

[motodraconis]

He's such a fucking moron, but he is relying on the fact that his fans are morons too.

[thewayne]

He's not smart, but he's damn clever.  And he's turned that into funding his lifestyle.

[motodraconis]

He has advisors, and sometimes he even listens to them, then he does his own thing and cocks it up.

[thewayne]

Heh. That's largely the case.

[elayna]

Why does anyone support him at this point? I keep asking and people keep giving me some sort of answer (it’s a cult! It’s the racism!) but I cannot understand it. He is such a user and his followers refuse to see it, I shall remain appalled until my dying day.

[thewayne]

Yet he sold out of those damn shoes and has made hundreds of thousands from them and those bibles.

[arlie]

I don't know, but I've seen a lot of people continue to defend obvious-to-me abusers. I have bad memories of two different neo-pagan groups with cult-like features, particularly an unquestionable leader. In the second one, said leader tended to neglect sexual boundaries. I also recall another quite successful neo-pagan group in which the male co-leader was reputed to (ahem) have a non-functioning pants zipper.

I suspect many of our ancestors lived in communities with "leaders" who basically took what they wanted, when they wanted it, limited only by the risk of triggering outright rebellion or covert assassination. That could be a better, safer way to live than any other actually available option. We may well be evolved to tolerate it, make excuses for said leader, and similar - rather than drawing his wrath by visibly protesting.

[thewayne]

The other thing is that he speaks to people's grievances.  It can't be their fault that they're undereducated and poor, it must be the fault of them ferriners and colored peeples!  He doesn't do anything for their grievances, but he does air them and that at least makes them feel good, so they give him their money.

[moonhare]

The Iranian hackers will love this! As will so many others.

“ Cryptocurrency exchanges are a major target for hackers, with more than $1.7 billion stolen in 2023 and $3.8 billion stolen in 2022.” per Investopedia.

[thewayne]

I know! The question becomes: Who will steal more from it, him and his family or hackers?

[disneydream06]

Do prisons have Family Cells? :p
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

ROFL!

[disneydream06]

Can't think of a more deserving family. :o

[warriorsavant]

Crypto is mostly a scam, and he's a scam artist extraordinaire. Even reading "his" book, "The Art of the Deal," half of the deals are clearly scams. But he's successful in getting people to invest and leave them holding the bag.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>This is going to be interesting to watch, as in a slow-moving train wreck, break out the popcorn. <<

Yep.

>> His family has zero experience in banking. <<

They have plenty of experience in money-laundering, shady business deals, and financial chicanery. There's a lot of overlap.

... and a lot of rope to hang himself. I say let him try it. Nobody with sense will get involved, and a fool and his money are soon parted.

Re: Thoughts

[thewayne]

With Iran having recently raided his campaign, I'll bet they can't wait for them to open their exchange to see how fast they can loot it!  It'll be a contest to see who can rob it first, the Trump Crime Family or Iranian hacker.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

*laugh* That'll be quite the greased-pig contest. That guy has a lot of enemies.

[silveradept]

I'm not surprised that this is the latest grift, given how the other grifts don't seem to be going so well or have been shut down. And I'll bet that it also becomes yet another venue where money is traded for influence.

[thewayne]

I think it'll just be a question as to which hacker group can tear it apart first.  The Iranians have quite a grudge against him.

[silveradept]

That assumes they get the opportunity and the US government doesn't raid them first and drain out the assets as penalties for laws broken or regulations skirted during the setup.

[thewayne]

My personal feeling is it will probably never launch, but we'll see.  It takes several hundred million dollars, if not billion, to launch a cyber exchange, and he certainly doesn't have the money.  And who would invest with him that is a legitimate, U.S.-approved, investor?  SEC certainly isn't going to let Putin-tied Russian oligarchs launder money through it.  So I don't think his initial investors will be approved, and that'll sink the project.  Now, if he were to become POTUS again, which I don't think will happen, then he might be able to control the SEC and force it through.  Again, don't think it'll happen.