President Donald Trump’s relentless financial grifts are only going to keep getting “worse and worse and worse,” according to his one-time biographer, and it all comes down to a simple fact.
Michael Wolff is a veteran reporter and author, best known for his extensive coverage of Trump’s personal and political life over the years, including a series of books about the chaos that roiled his first term. During the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, Wolff discussed the fallout of Trump’s latest scheme to extract money from his supporters: a cryptocurrency coin that left around 900,000 investors with $3.8 billion in losses, while he walked away with roughly $636 million.
“What I wonder is, what’s in their head? I mean… wouldn’t you say that… there should be a collective revolt at this point, if you were among the 900,000 people who lost this money?” Wolff said. “Because, remember: they lost this money, Trump made billions… So what are these people thinking?”
“Are they thinking, ‘I just got in too late. If only I got in earlier. It’s my fault, I’m a terrible investor?’” Wolff’s co-host Joanna Coles responded. “Or are they thinking it’s going to come back? ‘It’s going to come back, it’s just low right now. Bitcoin is low right now. At least I’m in the crypto game.’ Because obviously, this is a crypto grift.”
“I can’t fathom it. I mean, first thing: Who… are these people who would invest alongside Donald Trump?” Wolff continued. “I mean, this is… the classic rigged market. Of course, Donald Trump — the house — is going to win. Of course you’re going to lose.”
According to recent financial disclosures, the money Trump made from the licensing of these “celebration coins” made up a significant chunk of the $1.4 billion that he made from crypto ventures last year. That sum also included over $525 million from token sales by World Liberty Financial, a firm established by his two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Wolff suggested that the wider public “clearly” has not put any “moral attention,” and this lack of attention is in large part why Trump has been able to get away with such grifts, and why he suggested that they are only going to keep getting worse.
“They have not [paid attention] at any point of the Trump grift… which is now 10 years running, getting worse and worse and worse, and more lucrative… for him,” Wolff said. “He’s a businessman—of course, he’s going to take advantage of every opportunity that comes his way. I wish I could take advantage of every opportunity like that. Not I… but the man on the street.”