John Oliver returned from an extended summer break Sunday night with an extensive exposé on the Trump family’s “dominant business interest”: crypto.
On Last Week Tonight, the HBO anchor took a moment to mock Melania Trump’s memecoin in particular, pointing out its fundamental error.
“On the eve of the inauguration, Melania launched her own memecoin with this social media post, which looks like she’s dropping an album of Adele covers,” began Oliver.
“And while it is by no means the worst part, maybe they should have workshopped the name of her coin a bit more so that it doesn’t read as Smelania,” he said.
The first lady released her memecoin, stylized as $MELANIA, in January 2025. The coin and timing of its release were instantly criticized.
“This is what you do hours before the inauguration.? You’re a shameless grifter just like your husband,” wrote the official “Republicans against Trump” account on X.
But these initial criticisms segued to real legal trouble as the $MELANIA coin was dragged into a crypto fraud lawsuit in October of last year.
Oliver outlined the sharp decline in the value of the family’s coins, including Melania’s, but highlighted that the family has still walked away with millions.
“They initially skyrocketed in valuation, soaring so high that for a few hours, the Trumps and their business partners were sitting on at least $50 billion worth of it. But then inevitably, they crashed—and hard. In fact, by the following December, Trump’s coin was down 92 percent since its peak, while Smelania was down 99 percent,” he said.
“Almost a complete wipeout in value. But Trump himself walked away with a $636 million payout,” Oliver added as the audience booed.
Since Trump’s second term, his family has made ludicrous amounts from their various crypto schemes.
“His recent financial filings show that in just his first year back in office, his personal income surged to more than 2.22 billion, most of which came from his family’s crypto businesses, which brought in about 1.4 billion,” the hos explained. “In fact, crypto’s become the Trump family’s dominant business interest, overshadowing their real estate empire and every other business they have ever had.”
