Wall Street is bashing Donald Trump’s new money-making scheme after his media company unveiled a $100,000-a-month subscription to get early access to the president’s social media posts.
Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, announced the plans to offer the new service last week, but the ploy hasn’t gone down well with the people most likely to use it, the Financial Times reported.
The newspaper said that Wall Street types have balked at the eye-watering price of $100,000 a month, while others have expressed concerns about the potential legal ramifications for what could potentially amount to early access to possible market-altering events.
“His tweets move markets so we all need to pay up,” a leading macro hedge fund executive said. “It’s so bad that nothing surprises me in that sense anymore.”
A second called it “scandalous,” but said that out of a duty to clients—firms pledge to provide them with a leading service—they would be hamstrung and have to subscribe.
A crypto trader called it “a huge misuse of power. It’s a terrible look… not exactly presidential and impartial.”
Trump and his family are thought to have earned billions since his return to the White House last January, with his sons Eric and Don Jr. running the family business in his absence.
His financial disclosures from earlier this month show that a heady mix of everything from Trump watches to Trump Bibles and Trump Cryptocurrency all contributed to the more than $2 billion windfall he has made in the first year after moving back into the People’s House.
TMTG claims that several companies are already onboard with the plan. Meanwhile, the FT reports having seen a pitch presentation, which talks about key Truth Social posts in the last year that have acted as market movers. The newspaper said the deck also referenced how some people had placed big bets before major events.
In a statement to the FT, the White House said, “Truth API offers customers the fastest way to ingest publicly available Truth Social data. Critics must have invented a new theory of ‘insider trading’ based on publicly available information.”
The Daily Beast has contacted TMTG for comment.
