by dap | Apr 16, 2024 | Daily Kos
Over the past few months, Donald Trump has sold
,
,
he wore when getting a mugshot, and a
for those who didn’t lose enough on the
of Trump NFT cards. Trump doesn’t make these things—the Bible sales are out of inventory that has been around for years, the shoes and cards are something he sticks his name on for a hefty percentage—but just about anything goes when trying to fill the money pit left by $100 million in just legal fees (
not included).
However, Trump’s sneaker sales pale compared with his two big money moves. Both are set to deliver Trump hundreds of millions. Neither one cost him a dime.
The smaller of these is the
, where daughter-in-law Lara Trump now has control of the checkbook. But the bigger deal is still the media company that includes Truth Social. No matter how much celebration there is every day that Trump Media (stock market symbol: DJT) tumbles, it could still leave Trump with hundreds of millions for doing nothing more than exercising his rage. And that is the ultimate grift.
RELATED STORY:
Trump Media & Technology Group Corp
in one of the maneuvers that have
over the past decade, using a kind of backdoor merger that kept the company from having to clear the hurdles facing an ordinary initial public offering.
When Trump Media made its
on March 26, it collected sharp gains over the first two days. As
reported, a 60% stake in the company turned the successful debut into $3.7 billion in instant net worth for Trump, catapulting him up the ranks of the world’s most wealthy.
Just two days in, the stock zoomed up to $66.22, driving Trump’s worth even higher. However, even before the new company allowed the public
at its financials on April 1, the stock price had begun a steady decline. A week later, it was down to $37.
On Monday, as Trump entered the courtroom for his first criminal trial, the stock closed at $26.61,
in just one day. The reason for the massive single-day drop was an unusual announcement that, having just made it onto the market and with share prices dropping, Trump Media was going to respond by
in a move that would dilute the value of existing shares. Investors reacted by hitting the sell button to get out before the new shares got in.
Still, considering that the total revenue of Truth Media is only slightly more than that of a
, and the company managed to lose $58 million last year—largely by
and handing out fat bonuses—its multi-billion dollar market valuation is nothing short of ridiculous.
That valuation is entirely dependent on people like the sad story told in
of a man in Oklahoma City who has deposited his entire family nest egg into Trump’s scam stock. “I know good and well it’s in Trump’s hands, and he’s got plans,” Jerry Dean McLain, who owns a tree-removal service, told reporters. “I have no doubt it’s going to explode sometime.”
If by explode McLain means go up in a puff of smoke, that’s a real possibility. If he means go way up in value … no. Just no. Tech stocks that enter the market deep underwater and spend years pulling in investments before finally turning a profit (or folding) are plentiful, but Trump Media has nothing at all to recommend it. Its
is a failure, its financials are a horror show, and the company has nothing to recommend it to investors who put even a moment’s thought behind where they drop their money.
As of Tuesday morning,
l reports that Trump Media has lost $3 billion in its first three weeks. All this seems good for a laugh until you realize that the value of Donald Trump’s stock in the company is still $2.2 billion. For which the net investment was minimal and his personal investment was zilch.
Trump hasn’t made any money off the stock yet, because he’s not allowed to sell for another five months. Every time the value of the stock decreases, Trump’s ultimate payday goes down, and even when the day arrives that he is allowed to part with some of his stock, Trump unloading more than a few percent of his shares would only tank the stock further.
Even so, if the stock fell to just $5 a share, Trump could still get out with an over $400 million payday. Which isn’t bad considering that he did nothing but use Truth Social to issue his daily screeds.
So long as the Oklahoma tree cutter keeps Trump Media from falling into penny stock territory, Trump still stands to end up with a fat payday a few months from now when the SEC allows him to sell. Then Trump can move on to his next scam,
.
But the next thing probably won’t make more money than he’s grabbing right now from Truth Media. After all, when it comes to taking money away from fools, nothing beats the stock market.
RELATED STORY:
Campaign Action
by dap | Apr 16, 2024 | Daily Kos
Talking about tax policy is one of the best ways for President Joe Biden to create a contrast with Donald Trump on who will fight for average Americans. As Trump
earlier this month, one of his signature issues if elected president in November will be extending the tax cuts Republicans enacted during his term in 2017—which overwhelmingly benefited wealthy Americans.
There’s no audio of the statement, but it echoes comments Trump made last year
at Mar-a-Lago for North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, an extremist Republican who is running for governor. Addressing the audience, Trump called some attendees “rich as hell” before promising, “We’re gonna give you tax cuts!”
The Biden campaign spliced that proclamation into an ad where the president is joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
“When he thinks the cameras aren’t on,” Biden says, “he tells his rich friends, ‘We’re going to give you tax cuts.’”
Here’s what Donald Trump says when he thinks you’re not watching: He says he’s going to cut taxes for his rich friends, all while cutting Social Security for everyone else.
and I are mad as hell about it, and together, we’re going to stop him.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden)
Biden also worked Trump’s tax plan into
in the White House Rose Garden when he was asked whether he was concerned about inflation.
“We have dramatically reduced inflation from 9 percent down to close to 3 percent,” Biden responded, noting that inflation was “skyrocketing” when he took office. “And we have a plan to deal with it, whereas the opposition—my opposition talks about two things. They just want to cut taxes for the wealthy and raise taxes on other people.”
Biden will travel to Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday to deliver a major speech on tax policy.
The topic is no accident. A recent Navigator Research focus group found the issue of tax inequity was top of mind for voters in the swing states of Michigan, Virginia, and Minnesota.
Among the focus group’s main findings were these three points,
:
- The federal tax system is widely seen as unfair, benefiting only those who know how to navigate loopholes.
- The Biden Administration’s record on taxes feels virtually unknown to most.
- The Trump-era tax cuts are remembered more fondly initially than when the details are reintroduced.
Overwhelmingly, though, participants viewed the tax system as unfair.
“I think the middle class and the lower-class people [are being screwed], but primarily the middle-class people because it just seems like a lot of the burden falls on us,” said an independent-leaning Republican man from Michigan.
“I think the big corporations and that 1% that they’re talking about [don’t pay their fair share], just because they pay people that know their way around taxes, and they know what they do unlike the middle class that have to do their own taxes,” said one Republican Virginia woman.
“The tax system is set up to benefit those who make more money … I feel like if you make less money, you end up, percentage-wise, paying more taxes. I just want everyone to pay their fair share. And the government sort of provides all of these different ways for people to get out of paying taxes,” said a Democratic woman from Michigan.
Going forward, one of the Biden campaign’s key jobs will be to remind voters exactly who Trump’s tax cuts helped, what Trump plans to do if he’s elected again, and how Biden plans to continue cutting costs for average Americans while making wealthy individuals and corporations pay their fair share.
Campaign Action
by dap | Apr 16, 2024 | Daily Kos
The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.
Leading Off
● WA-04: Donald Trump
former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler’s intra-party bid against Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse, who is one of the two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 riot.
Trump’s backing makes Sessler, who waged an unheralded campaign two years ago, Newhouse’s only notable foe in what had been a quiet
for Washington’s conservative 4th District. However, it remains to be seen whether Democrats will once again consolidate behind a single candidate as they did in 2022, a development that could make it tougher for one of the two Republicans to reach the November general election.
Newhouse’s own plans are also uncertain. Two months ago, the Seattle Times’ Jim Brunner
there had been “rampant speculation in state Republican circles that Newhouse may be the next to announce his retirement.” The incumbent doesn’t appear to have confirmed his 2024 plans yet, though he
an endorsement from the National Federation of Independent Business on Monday. The candidate filing deadline
, so it may still be a few weeks before the roster is set here.
Newhouse, who was elected to represent central Washington in 2014, attracted little attention during his first three terms in Congress, but all of that changed early in 2021 when he responded to the Jan. 6 attack riot by voting to impeach Trump.
“A vote against this impeachment is a vote to validate the unacceptable violence we witnessed in our nation’s capital,”
. “It is also a vote to condone President Trump’s inaction.”
Sessler, who had
that could be considered the equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues (his name does not come up
), was one of several hard-right politicians who reacted by launching campaigns against the congressman. Trump, however, was far more impressed by 2020 gubernatorial nominee Loren Culp, a former cop who
his decisive loss to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee.
Trump’s endorsement, though, didn’t do much to help Culp augment his
. Newhouse’s allies at Defending Main Street, which is aligned with the GOP leadership, also
to boost the incumbent while the challenger received no major outside help. Sessler, who
but raised little from donors, attracted comparatively little attention.
The 4th District had
, but businessman Doug White benefited from being the only Democrat on the ballot in a top-two primary that featured seven Republicans. Newhouse and White
, while Culp and Sessler respectively grabbed 22% and 12%. That victory made Newhouse and California Rep. David Valadao the only two pro-impeachment Republicans to win renomination in a cycle that saw their eight fellow travelers either opt to retire or lose their own primaries.
Newhouse went on to
in the general election (Valadao narrowly won in a more competitive seat), and he resumed his former role as a quiet conservative vote. The congressman even made it clear earlier this month that, despite saying three years ago
“failed to fulfill his oath of office,” he’d
to the White House. Trump repaid him Friday
branding Newhouse “a weak and pathetic RINO named Newhouse, who voted to, for no reason, Impeach me.”
Trump, as he almost always does, also
as someone who will “stand for the Rule of Law,” though Sessler had a
. In September of 2022, a month after Sessler’s first congressional campaign came to an end, a code enforcement officer in Benton County named Dale Wilson said that he’d investigated a complaint that someone was living on Sessler’s property without the proper permits. Wilson said that Sessler confronted him and threatened to retrieve a gun and “deal with him” if Wilson returned.
County commissioners sent the once and future candidate a letter a few months later telling him that the actions described by Wilson constituted a felony, adding, “If you continue to threaten Benton County employees, the county will involve law enforcement to conduct a full investigation.” There
to have been any public developments since then.
Another Washington Republican who voted to impeach Trump, former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, will also be on the Aug. 6 top-two primary ballot as she campaigns for the open post
. Herrera Beutler’s career representing the 3rd District came to an end two years ago when her Trump-backed foe, Joe Kent, edged her out in the first round, though Kent went on to suffer an upset general election loss to Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
Herrera Beutler faces one fellow Republican, Sue Kuehl Pederson, who
for lands commissioner, along with several Democrats. Kent, meanwhile, needs to get past Camas City Councilmember Leslie Lewallen to set up a rematch with Gluesenkamp Perez. Trump has not yet endorsed in either contest.
Election Night
● AL-02: The
picks back up on Tuesday in Alabama’s revamped 2nd District, which is the only place in America that’s hosting a congressional nominating contest this week. Whoever wins the Democratic primary runoff will be favored in November to claim a constituency that, under the new map drawn by a federal court, is now a plurality Black district that would have
.
Former Justice Department official Shomari Figures led state House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels
in the first round of voting on March 5. While Figures’ share of the vote was below the majority needed to win the Democratic nod outright, his performance established him as the frontrunner for the runoff.
Subsequent developments have only underscored the perception that Figures is the one to beat. State Rep. Napoleon Bracy, who took third place with 16%, went on to endorse him, and a late March Impact Research poll for an unknown client showed Figures
.
Figures has once again gotten a major assist from Protect Progress, a super PAC with
that spent heavily on him ahead of the primary and has poured in
for the runoff. The only pro-Daniels outside spending, by contrast, is about $50,000 from Progress for Alabama, a super PAC that Politico reports
Republican operative David Driscoll. Driscoll did not comment when Politico asked him about his interest in the race.
Each Democrat is arguing that the other
, which
Mobile, Montgomery, and the eastern Black Belt. Figures, who hails from a
, has highlighted the fact that Daniels represents a legislative seat in Huntsville, far off in the northern part of the state.
Daniels, however, has emphasized his roots in the Montgomery area and pointed out that Figures only recently returned to Alabama after spending his career in and around the nation’s capital.
The GOP runoff pits former state Sen. Dick Brewbaker and attorney Caroleene Dobson. Brewbaker
on March 5.
● MI State House: Two special elections taking place in the Detroit suburbs on Tuesday would allow Democrats to regain the majority they earned in the state House in 2022 if they prevail in both. The contests are being held to succeed a pair of Democrats who resigned to become mayor of their respective communities, Kevin Coleman of Westland and Lori Stone of Warren.
The election to replace Coleman in the 25th District pits
and fellow Democrat, Westland City Councilman Peter Herzberg, against Republican businessman Josh Powell. Joe Biden, according to data from Dave’s Redistricting App, carried this seat
in 2020.
The race to succeed Stone, meanwhile, is between Democrat Mai Xiong, a member of the Macomb County Commission, and Republican Ronald Singer,
. Xiong, who would be the
elected to the state House, should have little trouble Tuesday in a seat that favored the president 64-35
However, November’s contest for a full term would likely be more difficult. That’s because, under the
that Michigan’s independent redistricting commission recently passed pursuant to a court order, the redrawn 13th would have backed Biden just 50-48.
Senate
● KY-Sen & Louisville, KY Mayor: Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature
by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of two election-related bills, one that will have an impact statewide and one more local.
The first bill prohibits the governor from appointing anyone to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat. This legislation
that required the governor to pick from a three-person list submitted by the party of the person who last held the Senate seat.
The new bill’s sponsor, state House Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy,
have anything to do with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s health. McConnell himself expressed support for the legislation even as he once again reiterated that he’d serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in early 2027.
The legislature, which only requires a simple majority in each chamber to
, also defied Beshear by approving a new law that, among other things, makes elections for Louisville’s local government officially nonpartisan
. All the candidates would face off on one ballot, and the top two vote-getters would advance to the general election.
Kentucky’s largest city, which was
in 2003, favored Joe Biden 59-39 in 2020, so this switch could make it easier for Republicans to win races now that party affiliation won’t be included on the ballot.
State Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, however, told Louisville Public Media last month he was
“out of respect for” Mayor Craig Greenberg, a Democrat whom he says was involved in discussions about the law. Greenberg, who is up for reelection in 2026, didn’t answer when LPM
when it was first introduced earlier this year.
● MD-Sen: Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks has publicized an internal from Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group that shows her trailing Rep. David Trone by a small
ahead of the May 14 Democratic primary. It’s the first data that Alsobrooks has shared since launching her campaign, and it’s also the first internal poll of the race we’ve seen since Trone shared a Hickman Analytics internal two months ago that had him up 49-32.
In between, two March polls conducted by Braun Research for separate clients
: An early March poll for the Washington Post and the University of Maryland gave the congressman a 34-27 edge, while its subsequent numbers for Goucher College and the Baltimore Banner showed him leading 42-33.
● NJ-Sen: Fairleigh Dickinson University shows Democratic Rep. Andy Kim
over his two most notable Republican rivals, developer Curtis Bashaw and Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner. Were Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to run as an independent, Kim would still defeat both Republicans by a 6-point margin:
- Kim (D): 48, Bashaw (R): 39
- Kim (D): 47, Glassner (R): 38
- Kim (D): 44, Bashaw (R): 38, Menendez (I-inc), 6
- Kim (D): 45, Glassner (R): 39, Menendez (I-inc): 7
Presidential numbers were not included in this release.
Governors
● WV-Gov: The Club for Growth, which supports Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in the May 14 Republican primary, has launched what appears to be the
from anyone attacking former Del. Moore Capito. Morrisey and his allies until now had focused on tearing down businessman Chris Miller, but this shift in strategy suggests they think Capito has now emerged as a threat as well.
The
declares that Capito, who is the son and namesake of Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, was “born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” though the commercial doesn’t reference the senator by name. Instead, it features several animations of Capito accompanied by spoons (maybe the ad maker is a
) as the narrator accuses him of repeatedly voting to raise taxes.
Capito, meanwhile, has
in which his narrator declares, “Moore Capito wrote the bill blocking puberty blockers for children while Morrisey got rich lobbying for the puberty blocker companies.” Miller recently used a
against Morrisey, who has
.
Capito
by portraying Morrisey as an outsider, though strangely, he doesn’t actually bring up the state the attorney general is originally from. “California’s that way,” Capito tells the New Jersey-reared attorney general, who ran for Congress in the Garden State back in 2000 only to finish
.
House
● CA-16: Election officials in California’s 16th Congressional District
for a machine recount of the March 5 top-two primary on Monday, but there are still big questions over just what will happen next in this wild race.
The Mercury News reports that Jonathan Padilla, who was a 2020 Biden delegate, paid the county
to start the recount. However, election administrators in Santa Clara County, which makes up over 80% of this Silicon Valley-based seat, tell KQED’s Guy Marzorati that it
for what they estimate will be a five-day undertaking.
Their counterparts in San Mateo, which forms the balance of the 16th District, say it will take another $4,550 per day to recount its ballots, though they told Marzorati they hadn’t received a deposit as of Monday morning.
Marzorati writes that if Padilla misses a day’s payment, the recount would end and the results certified by the state earlier this month would stand. A second voter, Dan Stegink, had sought a recount as well, but he withdrew his request and did not put down the requisite deposit.
Padilla’s own plans have also changed somewhat, as he said he originally intended to seek a manual recount before opting for a machine recount. A manual recount is more likely to catch errors, but it’s also
.
Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, whom Padilla worked for in 2014, is guaranteed a spot in the November general election, while two other Democrats, Assemblyman Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, would both advance if they remain tied for second. Should a recount shift the results even a single vote for either runner-up, however, then Liccardo would face the second-place finisher in a one-on-one matchup.
● FL-15: Far-right social media troll Rogan O’Handley told the conservative site The Floridian over the weekend that he’s
challenge freshman Rep. Laurel Lee in the Aug. 20 Republican primary. The candidate filing deadline
.
● IN-03: Winning for Women, a conservative super PAC
, has launched a commercial accusing former Rep. Marlin Stutzman of
. The spot does not mention former Judge Wendy Davis, whom Politico says the group supports in the May 7 Republican primary for this safely red seat in northeastern Indiana. According to reports filed with the FEC, WFW has
.
The offensive comes at a time when another super PAC, America Leads Action, is spending a similar amount to
. The former congressman’s allies at the far-right House Freedom Caucus have deployed $110,000 to return him to Congress after an eight-year absence, but most of that spending came last year.
● IN-05: State Rep. Chuck Goodrich’s
for next month’s GOP primary utilizes material
to argue that Rep. Victoria Spartz is an abusive boss. “Manic behavior,” says the narrator, continuing, “She yells and curses, calling them morons and idiots.” The spot goes on, “Victoria Spartz’s behavior is embarrassing. We don’t need politicians who lie and disrespect employees and lack the temperament for public service.”
● IN-08: Former Rep. John Hostettler is getting some welcome outside support
, which is airing commercials starring Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. There is no word yet as to how much the PAC is spending to promote Hostettler, who has been on the receiving end of at least $1.75 million in attacks
. Hostettler’s campaign, according to AdImpact data from Howey Politics,
for the May 7 GOP primary as of April 5.
Paul
to tout Hostettler as someone who will resist “the politicians that are destroying America,” a crowd that, according to footage shown on-screen, includes Paul’s home state colleague, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Paul was elected to the upper chamber four years after Hostettler lost reelection in the 2006 blue wave, but his father, then-Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and Hostettler were part of a small group of House Republicans who
. The elder Paul went on to
failed 2010 Senate primary campaign.
● NH-02: State Sen. Becky Whitley announced Sunday that she
retiring Rep. Annie Kuster, a fellow Democrat. Whitley says she’s
for her bid in her first week since forming an exploratory committee earlier this month.
Whitley, who has worked as a disability rights lawyer, joined the legislature in 2020 after winning a safely blue Senate seat, but she first had to get past a familiar name in the primary. To earn the nomination, she
over former Rep. Paul Hodes, who was seeking a comeback a decade after his failed bid for the U.S. Senate.
WMUR
that Whitley, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, has since “been on the legislative front lines” in battles to safeguard abortion rights. She joins a September primary that includes former Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern, who has Kuster’s endorsement.
But two would-be Democratic candidates, state Reps. Angela Brennan and Rebecca McWilliams, each said this week they’d
in the state Senate rather than run for Congress.
Mayors & County Leaders
● Baltimore, MD Mayor: OpinionWorks shows incumbent Brandon Scott
in the May 14 Democratic primary, with former federal prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah far back at 10%. The survey was conducted for FOX45 News, the Baltimore Sun, and the University of Baltimore.
The only other independent poll we’ve seen of Baltimore’s mayoral race this year was a Braun Research survey released last week on behalf of Goucher College and The Baltimore Banner, which gave Scott a
over Dixon. (Vignarajah was similarly situated at 11%.) It only takes a plurality to secure the Democratic nomination, which is tantamount to election in this dark blue city.
Ad Roundup
- MD-Sen: David Trone (D) (
and
)
- MT-Sen:
(D-inc) – anti-Tim Sheehy (R);
(R) – anti-Tester (D-inc)
- UT-Sen:
– pro-John Curtis (R);
– pro-Brent Orrin Hatch (R)
- IN-Gov:
(R);
(R);
– anti-Mike Braun (R)
- IN-03:
– anti-Marlin Stutzman (R)
- IN-08: America Leads Action – anti-John Hostettler (R) (
and
)
- WV-01:
(R-inc)
Campaign Action
