In October, former President Trump announced the creation of a new company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). Its signature product is a new social media site, Truth Social. According to an investor presentation, Truth Social and the larger company will “be a fountainhead of support for American freedoms as the first major rival to ‘Big Tech.'” TMTG will “even the playing field” of a media landscape that “has swung dangerously far to the left.”
Initially, TMTG suggested that Truth Social was based on “proprietary” technology. It was later forced to admit that the code was taken from Mastodon, an open-sourced decentralized social network that anyone can use. Gab, an existing social media network geared toward the far right, already uses Mastodon. So neither the technology nor the concept is new.
TMTG promised that “TRUTH Social plans to begin its Beta Launch for invited guests in November 2021.” But November 2021 came and went without the Beta Launch or any update from the company. The Truth Social homepage is a single static page that collects email addresses.
TMTG was also subject to criticism for failing to announce “anyone involved in building its supposed technology.” The only people identified as involved in the company’s operation were Trump and Scott St. John, a game show producer that will supposedly be involved in TMTG’s streaming service, TMTG+, which is supposed to launch sometime in 2023.
An updated version of the TMTG investor report lists a “Technology Team,” but the members of the team are identified only by their first name and last initial. TMTG’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is Josh A. Who is Josh A? He may have worked for Apple, or Little Debbie Snacks, or Gab. TMTG does not specify. The “Technology Team,” TMTG warns, is “subject to change.” But don’t worry, if Josh A departs for greener pastures, TMTG can rely on their Chief Product Officer (CPO) Billy B.
On Monday, TMTG announced that Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) will be retiring from Congress to become the company’s CEO in January. Nunes has no experience in the media business and once sued a fictional cow for making fun of him on Twitter.
Writing in Bloomberg, Matt Levine concludes there is “almost no sign that TMTG is actually building a social network or a streaming platform or anything else.” Nevertheless, TMTG projects 121 million monetizable users and $3.6 billion in revenue by 2026. (In 2021, it more conservatively projects $1 million in revenue.)
Will TMTG’s rosy predictions come true? It seems very unlikely. But, critically, Trump does not have to meet these projections — or even stand up a real company — to make lots of money.
SPAC to the future
Just a few weeks after TMTG launched, it announced that it was merging with Digital World Acquisition Company (DWAC), which is a publicly-traded Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). A SPAC, also known as a blank check company, is formed specifically to merge with another company and take it public. In this case, investors in DWAC would pay Trump $293 million in exchange for 18% to 25% of TMTG, which doesn’t really operate yet as a business.
Prior to merging with TMTG, a share of DWAC was valued at $10. Shortly after the merger was announced, DWAC stock, perhaps buoyed by Trump fans, was trading as high as $175 per share. It has since settled in at around $43, which still values TMTG at almost $1.6 billion. That’s not bad for a company that has no product, no users, no publicly identified executives, and no revenue. It is trading at $43 because that is what people are willing to pay for it.
TMTG has not “completed its merger with DWAC or made associated securities filings.” But if the deal closes in the first quarter of 2022, Trump and DWAC investors are likely to make a lot of money. Trump will get the proceeds from the initial deal and the investors will be able to realize a return by selling their shares. Trump will collect his money long before anyone figures out if TMTG is a real company — much less a profitable one.
The SEC has questions
In its initial SEC filing, DWAC represented that it had “not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target.”
Multiple media outlets, however, reported that DWAC CEO Patrick Orlando was involved in discussions with Trump months before DWAC began trading. The SEC is now seeking information “about [DWAC’s] trading policies and communications between the SPAC and Mr. Trump’s company.”
If the investigation determines that the deal between DWAC and TMTG was agreed to in advance, DWAC’s SEC filing could be considered “false or misleading with respect to [a] material fact.” That could be a violation of federal securities laws.
The money PIPE
The SPAC deal, if it is completed, will earn Trump $10 a share. But the company is currently trading at over $40 a share. How does Trump capture even more of that cash as soon as possible?
While the merger is pending, a SPAC and its target have the ability to privately sell more shares to raise capital. This is called a Private Investment in Public Entity (PIPE). On Saturday, TMTG announced a $1 billion PIPE investment. These shares will be purchased at a substantial discount from the current retail trading price. That means Trump, before TMTG has a single product or subscriber, could collect $1.3 billion.
But who is investing $1 billion in Trump’s virtually non-existent company? TMTG does not say. They identify the source of the cash as “a diverse group of institutional investors.” The identity of the investors is critical in light of Trump’s future political ambitions. He may run for president again in 2024. What if, for example, the investors include the Saudi sovereign wealth fund?
The structure of the PIPE deal, however, suggests that these investors are less interested in influencing a future president than fleecing retail traders for a quick buck. Levine notes that typically “in SPAC mergers, the PIPE investors can’t sell their stock the day after the merger closes.” Rather, the PIPE investors need to wait “a couple of months.” In this case, however, “DWAC and TMTG have promised the PIPE investors that they’ll be able to freely resell their stock the minute the merger closes.”
In other words, there seems to be a real push by these investors to flip these stocks immediately. The investors, whoever they are, seem to be keenly aware that time is not on their side. They want to be able to cash out before anyone gets too much information about how the company actually performs.
It’s a deal that makes Trump money and the investors money. The people holding the bag will be retail investors paying premium prices for a mirage of a company because they like Trump.
That group includes Marjorie Taylor-Green (R-GA), who bought between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of DWAC on the day it announced its merger with TMTG. She paid somewhere between $67.96 and $175 per share. That means she’s probably already lost about half of her investment — and possibly a lot more.
“I don’t want a baby” is as good of a reason to have an abortion as “I am a rape survivor.” Similarly, “I have no desire to procreate” is as good of a reason to take birth control as “I have endometriosis.” It’s an ob/gyn office not a church.
Conservative SCOTUS’ can’t connect all their beliefs because they are all bullshit religious opinions. Right to privacy? Not this time. Freedom from religion? Not this time.
Christofascism is here. ACB proves it
The misogyny of patriarchy.
Trump was against masks because it would mess with his orange make-up.
The right wing has nothing new to offer so they keep trying to scare their viewers, the cult base, with misleading cartoons. It has been pointed out that tRump added nearly 8 trillion to the debt with not a complaint from the right nor care of base. The plans of the Biden administration have been vetted to add to the income of the treasury and the increase the economy unlike tax breaks for the wealthy. When the GOP is running the show, not one Conservative cartoonists brings up “debt, big government (Trump did make the Government bigger during is term), or any “noise” about reckless spending”. And yet this Congress hasn’t come any where near the debt levels created by the GOP sponsored 2017 tax cuts that benefited no one but the wealthy. Now change ‘big government’ to ‘big military’ and see if it flies better. Hugs
Lisa must not have had anything worthwhile to draw to day, so she filled it with this. VPs tend to not do much unless you think of Dick Cheney and his highly profitable manipulation of Shrub. She is perceived as a real threat, that’s while all the attacks. They amount to a good recommendation. The media is already trying to stir up a nomination fight between her and Buttigieg for the ratings they hope to get. It is all about the click, the money, for corporate media. Hugs
Wow the projection is stunning. It has become a game for the right now to just blame everything their side / tRump did on Biden. It is a complete denial of reality. It is kid stuff with the rubber glue chant. Fingers in ears I don’t want to believe you shit. It gets tiring to respond. But I keep trying. Hugs
Here is the comment I left on the cartoon site. Every time I do this I get some clown tRump cult member with limited vocabulary and lack mental agility attacking me with the most tiresome fake right wing media talking points, at least the ones they can remember. Hugs
The unity problem is more the result of unrelenting nonsense attacks by right wing media, often simply made up stuff they know their base will not check. Law and order is actually better as the tRump admin used unidentified illegal squads to kidnap people off the streets who were using their constitutional right to protest. These people were taken to hidden locations, illegally questioned, detained, their items searched with out permission, never charged with a crime and then released often with out their phones or other property. Reporters protected by law and the 1st amendment were attacked and their equipment destroyed all to please the wannabe strongman dictator, tRump. The US has far more world respect now with Biden president than when tRump (also known as TFG, the former guy) was in office. TFG destroyed long running friendships with democracies and tried to start friendships with only authoritarian governments. The world reacted badly to that. The laws and people enforcing the borders have not changed despite Biden and the people want them too. The US is still violating the rights of those seeking refuge status as they did before. We still have freedom and some of us are still sane. Talk about nonsense phrases meaning nothing and everything. And before someone shouts Covid as a loss of freedom fact is the SCOTUS found a century ago the government had a right to enforce health laws / requirements. And lastly fuel prices. Fuel prices started coming down right after TFG approved selling the Saudi’s weaponry that every other US president refused, for good reason. But the Saudi’s put lots of money in both tRump’s and his son-in-law’s pockets so who cares about indiscriminate killing, right. Then came the pandemic with Covid ended a lot of need for fuel, travel mostly stopped, office buildings were empty, prices of fuel fell from lack of demand and over supply. Now that demand is rising and the OPEC nations throttling the supply to make up the profits they lost prices of fuel were rising. That is no more. For the last three weeks fuel prices, the cost per barrel of oil has fallen. If you are not seeing it at the pump it is because of price gouging and profit taking. Facts matter. These are the facts. Scottie
Not even close but nice to see the right wing trying hard to demonize those they disagree with. In case you don’t know the story Toobin He exposed himself during a Zoom call with colleagues in what he says was an accident. Toobin claimed “I didn’t think other people could see me,” and it seems that he was masturbating.
People familiar with the matter said that Toobin exposed himself when he began masturbating during the Zoom, apparently as part of a different video call. The people said that they did not believe he intended his colleagues to witness it.
It seemed to me to be an accident he did not intend to expose his sexual activity to others, he was removed from his jobs, he under went reviews and The New Yorker did not find any other forms of misconduct by him during its probe of his 27 years at the magazine.
It is well known that what Chris Cuomo did was completely different. Cuomo did try to deliberately deceive his co-workers, his bosses, and the viewers. He was doing things he knew his contract forbid and were against the company polices. But having said that why is the right wing so upset with Cuomo and Toobin but ignoring the many violations of rules by Fox News hosts? Fox news hosts go on stage at tRump rallies to promote tRump, and have since tRump was president. Cuomo was trying to help his brother, but Fox hosts were doing far more for tRump. When these cartoonist show the same outrage over that I will listen to their fake outrage over CNN. Hugs
This is late because there was not much to post in the morning so I got interested in other things. I made a loaf of bread that came out great. Then I helped Ron make a wonderful meal of rare Roasted Beast, baked potatoes, and broccoli, and hot just baked bread. I would like to add I am not sorry, the meal was great and we had a lot of fun. Also got the laundry done. Be well, many hugs. Scottie
But no pay increase or or other things for the workers. Hugs
It should be noted that the Squad has been leading the charge, using up all their political capital, to enact policies that directly help the poor and working-class. Despite that, they are still labeled "highly educated elites" who don't care about the working-class. 2/
Must be in a third world country where people have to go into debt to finance a university education. Meanwhile USAian students go to university in places like The Sorbonne in Paris, Oxford or Cambridge or Manchester or Edinburgh in the UK and graduate in 4 years and have little to no debt. Hugs
Yes, Bob Dole was a republican and, please remember, when he appeared in the Seate to push for some “handicapped” legislation, he WAS roundly greeted by his “fellow” republicans – but they refused to pass the legislation he wanted. Of course, what’s in the Senate, now, are not really republicans so he should have known better than to try to appeal to them.
By the way, on what he’s shown as tossing away – As a politician, Dole made a habit of carrying a pen in his right hand to prevent others from trying to shake it since he lost the use of his right arm in a war-time injury. Hugs
IMO it’s getting increasingly hard to see a viable path to avoiding prolonged minority rule in America https://t.co/9yK81cNbgb
“People talk a lot about how democracy itself is on the line in the 2022 election. What this misses is that in a number of states majority rule is already a thing of the past in state governments b/c the legislatures are so effectively gerrymandered.” https://t.co/ZBAl6iZJqx
1. North Dakota school superintendent blasts Critical Race Theory, compares Democrats to Nazis.
"Time to move away from godless corrupt woke, left-wing ideology and back to the devout Christ centered Republic the founders envisioned."https://t.co/PoAjhoNNlo
On our left: Hungary, on our right Poland. The hand in the middle belongs to the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General, who has filed and “opinion” that those two right wing countries must follow the rules that they agreed to when joining the union. Or, this cartoonist implies, lose funding. The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland have all gone backwards on democracy and human rights in recent years. I hope it can be reversed. Hugs
Until viability a zygote / fetus doesn’t anything. It doesn’t and shouldn’t have more rights than the woman it is inside of. I am tired of hearing about the “heartbeat” at a time when the heart is not even developed yet. Too many people have wannabe wishes instead of facts. They claim personhood for the fetus but ignore the personhood of the woman the zygote / fetus is in. They say the fetus has potential, but they ignore the potential of the woman the fetus is in. Hugs
Ergo, Smollett makes all the right wing attacks okay. Smollett did something stupid that will no doubt cause him trouble for the rest of his life. You sure it wasn’t George Soros and Antifa and migrant caravans and Communists and baby-eaters? It is the same old story deflection the Right wing deploys daily. The right wing stands behind their bad actors. Smollett has destroyed his career, unless he becomes a MAGA. Well,if he comes out and pledges his soul to the orange messiah I’m sure Republicans will flock to his defense. I note that Mr Goodwyn, like all the “conservative” cartoonists who have mocked Smollett, have drawn exactly nothing about Donald Kirk Hartle, the Nevada man whose claims that someone had fraudulently voted under the identity of his dead wife were widely touted by Trumpublicans and given a national platform by conservative media — and was arrested for committing the fraud himself. Trumpublicans don’t believe that Hartle did anything bad – by their definition, voter fraud is only bad if they can imagine it being done by Democrats… they also like to point out that voting fraud like Hartle’s proves that the election was tainted and that Trump should be reinstated – even when the only voting fraud they can find was a Republican doing it for Trump…Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 
Yes, Bob Dole was a republican and, please remember, when he appeared in the Seate to push for some “handicapped” legislation, he WAS roundly greeted by his “fellow” republicans – but they refused to pass the legislation he wanted. Of course, what’s in the Senate, now, are not really republicans so he should have known better than to try to appeal to them.
By the way, on what he’s shown as tossing away – As a politician, Dole made a habit of carrying a pen in his right hand to prevent others from trying to shake it since he lost the use of his right arm in a war-time injury. Hugs