The Picasso of Grift

"It’s a Gangster’s Paradise" 

I had a different post ready to go today, but breaking news compelled me to update the post I ran on August 11 instead. Brendan Ballou, former DoJ Antitrust Division prosecutor and now CEO of the Public Integrity Project, appeared on Michael Popak’s Legal AF YouTube channel today and what he said made my jaw drop. After describing Truth Social, Donald Trump’s subscription service for his MAGA followers, Ballou revealed the platform’s plan to sell advance versions of postings by Trump, Vance, Patel, Kennedy, and the official White House (Natalie Harp) account. The new service, Truth API, announced August 1st that it would charge $100,000 per month for premium subscribers to get news a few minutes before others.

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Truth Social, a subsidiary of Trump Media, is where POTUS starts wars, declares ceasefires, issues executive orders, reveals trade negotiations and new tariffs, and forecasts policy changes. It is where he hires and fires people, announces lawsuits, and targets his latest enemy. Why would anyone pay $100,000 per month to get those middle-of-the-night screeds a few minutes earlier than lower-tier subscribers?

There is only one reason: those posts move markets. Traders who can afford the hefty subscription and get first notice will reap the greatest rewards. The subscriptions will more than pay for themselves.

“Data is the new oil.”
—British mathematician Clive Humby to National Advertisers Conference, 2006

Trump Media also announced it plans to expand the service into legalized gambling, so that its premium users don’t have to place market bets on other prediction platforms like Kalshi, Polymarket, FanDuel, DraftKings, Robinhood, or Crypto.com, but can do those with a few keyboard strokes on Truth Social. Point and click: Oman will be bombed tomorrow. Amount to bet: 1 million Bitcoin.

Ballou: “It’s a little cute to describe it this way, but we’ve always said that Trump is sort of like the Picasso of corruption in that he comes up with these schemes that I don’t think would occur to you or me or an ordinary person. I just wouldn’t think to sell official government information like that.”

Well, Brendan. Think back. Do you remember the bathroom storage boxes at Mar-A-Lago? Come on. It was not that long ago. Ask Jack Smith to tell you all about it. He used to work at Justice, too.

In any event, here is that update if you are saving pages for your children:

 

Meanwhile, let’s end these wars. We support peace in Iran, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza and the efforts to end the war in Ukraine immediately. Global Village Institute’s Peace Thru Permaculture initiative has sponsored the Green Kibbutz network in Israel and the Marda Permaculture Farm in the West Bank for over 30 years. With your assistance, it will continue. We have a pipeline to aid in the West Bank that may only last a short time, so we appreciate immediate donations—right now

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#RestorationGeneration.

Even when humans are locked in a cage, the Earth remains beautiful. Therefore, the lesson for us is that human beings are not necessary. The air, soil, sky and water are still beautiful without you. So, when you step out of the cage, please remember that you are guests of the Earth, not its hosts.

We have a complete solution. We can restore whales to the ocean and bison to the plains. We can recover all the tremendous old-growth forests. We possess the knowledge and tools to rebuild savannah and wetland ecosystems. Coral reefs rebuilt with biorock build beaches faster than the seas are rising. It is not too late. All of these great works of nature are recoverable. We can have a human population sized to harmonize rather than destabilize. We can have an atmosphere that heats and cools just the right amount, is easy on our lungs and sweet to our nostrils with the scent of ten thousand flowers. All of that beckons. All of that is within reach.

We now have our own merchandise store on Redbubble. Swing on in for the latest wearables and chachkas….

Thanks for reading! Everything expressed in this article is my opinion.