As Andy McCarthy and I have noted previously, the one big potential windfall that could get Donald Trump out of his apparently dire financial straits is a merger between Truth Social and Digital World Acquisition Corp. That merger is not without legal and practical hurdles to clear and a lockup restriction on Trump selling stock, but one big barrier was cleared this morning when Digital World shareholders approved the long-delayed deal. The company’s stock “called Trump Media, could begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange as soon as Monday under the ticker symbol of Trump’s initials, DJT,” just in time for the Monday deadline to post a bond in Trump’s appeal of the New York Attorney General’s verdict or face seizure of assets that could include Trump Tower and/or other landmark properties.
Trump, being Trump, can’t admit that he’s in any financial danger even if that means that the client from hell has to publicly contradict what his own lawyers are telling the appeals courts about his lack of liquid assets. So, this morning on Truth Social, he said this:
THROUGH HARD WORK, TALENT, AND LUCK, I CURRENTLY HAVE ALMOST FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH, A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WHICH I INTENDED TO USE IN MY CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT. THE OFTEN OVERTURNED POLITICAL HACK JUDGE ON THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT A.G. CASE, WHERE I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG, KNEW THIS, WANTED TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME, AND THAT’S WHERE AND WHY HE CAME UP WITH THE SHOCKING NUMBER WHICH, COUPLED WITH HIS CRAZY INTEREST DEMAND, IS APPROXIMATELY $454,000,000. I DID NOTHING WRONG EXCEPT WIN AN ELECTION IN 2016 THAT I WASN’T EXPECTED TO WIN, DID EVEN BETTER IN 2020, AND NOW LEAD, BY A LOT, IN 2024.THIS IS COMMUNISM IN AMERICA!
This is shrewd fundraising messaging, because the notion that Letitia James is trying to bankrupt Trump’s campaign is useful both to Trump’s effort to get the Republican National Committee to cover his legal bills and maybe even the bond, and to his effort to get small-dollar donors to help his legal defense. It may even help persuade supporters to buy the Trump Media stock, thinking this can help their man out of a jam (just wait until the SEC decides to start treating Trump statements about his finances as statements about Trump Media stock). But it will undoubtedly be cited by James to tell the New York state appeals court that Trump is bluffing about not having the cash to post the bond.