Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[gondrin]

DJT fell about 5% Thursday after Trump made a pair of posts on Truth Social bragging about his social network.



Obviously, a big fat lie. Out of $58.2 million in expenses in 2023, around $40 million was in interest. It was in black in white on the SEC filing.

Also, active users on Truth have declined from 2M at the beginning to less than 500k. Which is why the company has no intention to publicly report statistics generally associated with social media companies. You know, key performance indicators, such as signups, average revenue per user, ad impressions and pricing, product engagement, or active user accounts including monthly and daily active users.

The basics.

To add to this, this is what was actually filed with the SEC.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...adb3832c&ei=11

"At this juncture in its development, TMTG believes that adhering to traditional key performance indicators, such as signups, average revenue per user, ad impressions and pricing, or active user accounts including monthly and daily active users, could potentially divert its focus from strategic evaluation with respect to the progress and growth of its business," according to a FORM 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Here is the actual paragraph from the form:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sec.irpass....-24-017011.htm

TMTG does not currently, and may never, collect, monitor or report certain key operating metrics used by companies in similar industries.

Since its inception, Private TMTG focused on developing Truth Social by enhancing features and user interface rather than relying on traditional performance metrics like average revenue per user, ad impressions and pricing, or active user accounts, including monthly and daily active users. While many industry peers may gather and report on these or similar metrics, given the early development stage of Truth Social, Private TMTG’s management and board did not rely on, and TMTG’s management and board does not anticipate relying on, any particular key performance metric to make business or operating decisions. Concurrent with access to new capital and resources following the Business Combination, TMTG is actively evaluating the most relevant, reliable and appropriate key operating metrics that align with its evolving business model. At this juncture in its development, TMTG believes that adhering to traditional key performance indicators, such as signups, average revenue per user, ad impressions and pricing, or active user accounts including monthly and daily active users, could potentially divert its focus from strategic evaluation with respect to the progress and growth of its business. TMTG believes that focusing on these KPIs might not align with the best interests of TMTG or its shareholders, as it could lead to short-term decision-making at the expense of long-term innovation and value creation. Therefore, TMTG believes that this strategic evaluation is critical and aligns with its commitment to a robust business plan that includes introducing innovative features and new technologies.

[Edge-]

To add to this, this is what was actually filed with the SEC.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...adb3832c&ei=11



Here is the actual paragraph from the form:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sec.irpass....-24-017011.htm

This is like when NCsoft just decides to suddenly merge their game revenue by-platform (PC and mobile) instead of breaking it out per-title/region in addition to by platform.

The only times they've done this in recent years were when WildStar launched, and more recently after the domestic launch of the latest Lineage game. Yes, investors and others did notice and I don't believe anyone is believing their excuses either.

Also, the second set of quoted text is some of the finest nonsensical gobbledygook I've read in a while. Like a hundred+ words to say, "Our KPI's suck shit so please don't ask about them."

[gondrin]

This is like when NCsoft just decides to suddenly merge their game revenue by-platform (PC and mobile) instead of breaking it out per-title/region in addition to by platform.

The only times they've done this in recent years were when WildStar launched, and more recently after the domestic launch of the latest Lineage game. Yes, investors and others did notice and I don't believe anyone is believing their excuses either.

Also, the second set of quoted text is some of the finest nonsensical gobbledygook I've read in a while. Like a hundred+ words to say, "Our KPI's suck shit so please don't ask about them."

It reminds me of the scene from Matrix Reloaded where Neo meets The Architect and has things explained to him. I swear they were using a thesaurus to just make things sound fancy and legalese.

[Rasulis]

This is like when NCsoft just decides to suddenly merge their game revenue by-platform (PC and mobile) instead of breaking it out per-title/region in addition to by platform.

The only times they've done this in recent years were when WildStar launched, and more recently after the domestic launch of the latest Lineage game. Yes, investors and others did notice and I don't believe anyone is believing their excuses either.

Also, the second set of quoted text is some of the finest nonsensical gobbledygook I've read in a while. Like a hundred+ words to say, "Our KPI's suck shit so please don't ask about them."

Basically, a bunch of baloney excuses. I also laugh at this line.

as it could lead to short-term decision-making at the expense of long-term innovation and value creation.

Never in a million year would I ever associate the word innovation with Truth Social. Meta may be the equivalent of the evil empire. However, the company also hold a total of 24224 patents globally which belong to wide ranging 8456 unique patent families.

[gondrin]

Basically, a bunch of baloney excuses. I also laugh at this line.



Never in a million year would I ever associate the word innovation with Truth Social. Meta may be the equivalent of the evil empire. However, the company also hold a total of 24224 patents globally which belong to wide ranging 8456 unique patent families.

Hell, it says "value creation". At what point did they ever create anything of value. Even Twitter is more of a value as it is now, with Musk at the helm turning it into the social media version of Stormfront than Truth ever has been.

[Rasulis]

Hell, it says "value creation". At what point did they ever create anything of value. Even Twitter is more of a value as it is now, with Musk at the helm turning it into the social media version of Stormfront than Truth ever has been.

Yep. Even when FB was a baby company, it regularly reported the users and products engagement numbers because they showed that the company was making progress. The only reason a company does not want to report those parameters is because they make it look bad.

[Edge-]

Following Eastman having his license to practice law yanked by the CA Bar - https://www.politico.com/news/2024/0...rules-00150631

A disciplinary panel in Washington has found that Jeffrey Clark, a former high-ranking Justice Department official, violated ethics rules for lawyers in his attempt to aid Donald Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election.

The three-member disciplinary committee determined Thursday that Clark’s campaign to pressure Justice Department leaders to help upend the transfer of power to Joe Biden violated his duties as an attorney.

The preliminary ruling jumpstarts a process that could lead to the suspension or even permanent revocation of Clark’s license to practice law, even as he’s considered a candidate for a senior position in a second Trump administration.Disciplinary investigators who brought the charges against Clark say they intend to advocate for his disbarment.

The decision followed six days of testimony, including by Clark’s former Justice Department superiors: Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue, who described a failed effort by Clark to use the department to falsely claim the election results were in doubt. Former Deputy White House Counsel Pat Philbin also testified publicly for the first time about Clark’s gambit.

Gosh, Donald just attracts all the unethical lawyers who breach their ethical and professional codes and get them booted out.

[Rasulis]

NY uses obscure civil-practice law to demand a closer look at Trump's $175M appeal bond — and at its underwriter, Knight Specialty

In a two-page court filing Thursday, state officials are giving Trump or his underwriters — the Knight Specialty Insurance Company — ten days to "justify," or prove the sufficiency of, the bond.

The step is necessary, the state notes in its filing, because the Los Angeles-based Knight is a "non-admitted carrier" under state insurance law, meaning it is not automatically qualified to provide bonds in New York.
"Admitted" insurance carriers are certified by New York's Department of Financial Services as qualified to underwrite bonds.

Because of Knight's non-admitted status, Attorney General Letitia James is allowed, under New York's civil practice rules, to ask for proof that Knight is financially sound and that the bond's collateral is sufficient.

The final call on whether the Knight bond sinks or swims will be up to New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who has set April 22 for a hearing on the matter.

I looked up Knight Specialty AM Best rating and it has a rating of A-. Generally, for public work construction, public agencies want A++. We use Tokio Marine for our professional/general liabilties and it has a rating of A++.

[TACOshake]

I am going to laugh my ass off if this company is in fact not legally able to post bonds for NY court cases.
Sadly I suspect they will then just give Trump another month to refile.

If only we had someone to warp in da popcorn. It's going to get entertaining...
A perfect outcome here is that the court rejects it <again>, trump and knight can’t fix it, then knight ends up getting dragged into an investigation of their own. All because their CEO is a wannabe trump flunky who was determined to leeeeeroy jenkins himself ahead of the other would-be bond flunkies. But ending up commiting frauds against the court and frauds against other investor in this "insurance company".
Then after not thanking them for offering, trump will publicly blame and ridicule knight insurance for fucking it up

[Cthulhu 2020]

Did he just imply his entire support base are racists? I'd love to hear some trumpkin explain this one out.

"Liberals are the real racists! You're the only ones who ever bring up race!"
"DEI means didn't earn it because all diversity people are dumb and unskilled unlike us the master race"

- - - Updated - - -

DJT fell about 5% Thursday after Trump made a pair of posts on Truth Social bragging about his social network.



Obviously, a big fat lie. Out of $58.2 million in expenses in 2023, around $40 million was in interest. It was in black in white on the SEC filing.

Also, active users on Truth have declined from 2M at the beginning to less than 500k. Which is why the company has no intention to publicly report statistics generally associated with social media companies. You know, key performance indicators, such as signups, average revenue per user, ad impressions and pricing, product engagement, or active user accounts including monthly and daily active users.

The basics.

If people are investing in this company because they think Trump is going to make them big money, instead of just taking their money, well let's say a fool and their money are easily parted.

If people are investing in this company because they want to support Trump despite knowing that it's throwing away their money, well I guess that's their business.

I do know a couple of people who invested in this stock when it was still $15 earlier this year, and have since cashed out since they knew it was a Trump pump and dump. Those are the only people making money off of this in the end, those who manage to sell for more than they bought it for.

[Breccia]

BAsically, the bond submittal is missing key information. Does not appear to be valid. Im sure the big brain appeals judges will be shocked... just shocked by this demonstartion of incivility! Trump tried to cheat on his homework.

So, yes, we've learned a lot recently.

1) Trump says he put up cash collateral but is holding the money.

Trump retained that $175 million cash collateral, according to Shah. He said the money is in an account that is "pledged" to the company. He would not specify the type of account. Trump paid a premium to the company that Shah declined to disclose.

It would take "fucking idiot" levels of business skill to assume Trump would pay you, even when you have a signed contract. If you're not physically holding the money, you don't have it.

2) But the company in question doesn't have the money either, at least, that's the accusation. NYState has some very aggressive anti-predatory laws, including

The company also does not appear to meet a restriction under New York insurance law barring companies from putting more than 10% of its capital at risk.

And it's valid, because the people involved have responded.

Amit Shah, the president of Knight Insurance, said the restriction does not apply. He said Knight has over $1 billion in equity.

"Knight Specialty Insurance Company is not a New York domestic insurer, and New York surplus lines insurance laws do not regulate the solvency of non-New York excess lines insurers," he said. "So we don't believe we need the 10% surplus."

So, Knight is trying to work in New York by virtue of paying a bond in New York, but also, not be in New York and not obey its laws. Sorry, but pick one. If the claim is they have more than $1 billion, I would believe that, but $175 million is too high.

Shah explained that the company is authorized to issue a surety bond in New York through the Excess Line Association of New York (ELANY). He said the company is approved by ELANY to issue bonds from its home domicile state of Delaware, where it is allowed to write surety bonds.

"Our position is we're compliant," said Shah.

Yep, those cowardly fucks are hiding out in Delaware, the scummiest state in the country when it comes to corporate protection. When Trump ran in 2016 and loaned his campaign money at prime plus 5 percent, he did so with a mailbox in Delaware.

It's likely not a cut-and-dry case, leading to, you guessed it, another delay. But the letter of the law says the bond-insuring company has to have the license to do that. They don't.

So, not only does the insurer need to prove they have $2 billion, they need to get their license form.

3) Quickly.

Within 10 days, Trump or the company must file a motion to "justify" the bond, meaning Knight must prove that it is financially capable of paying the bond.

"There seem to be serious issues," said Bruce H. Lederman, an attorney who has filed many bonds in New York, including for a real estate developer challenging a judgment. Lederman said he was struck by "glaring errors" in the bond..

"In all the years I've been doing this, you always have to have a certificate from the Department of Financial Services saying that you're licensed to issue a surety bond," he said, referring to the missing certificate of qualification.

4) Bear in mind, all of this wouldn't be necessary if either Trump or this Hankey guy just said "Okay, here's a large bag of cash. You hold it." Neither has done so. Trump can't. Knight probably can't.

Knight has $539 million in assets, including $26.8 million in cash, it said in a court filing.

"Assets" not "cash", but I didn't read the filing. Both parties seem to be saying "we promise to pay back" and then, you know, not do that.

Forbes has stronger terms.

In its updated bond, Knight reported a surplus to policyholders of $138 million—which is basically the company’s net worth, made up of its assets minus its liabilities. Since that’s less than the $175 million that Trump owes, that means if Trump’s bond wasn’t fully secured through collateral or he couldn’t pay the amount when it came time to do so, paying off the debt could wipe out the company’s cash.

There layers and LLCayers going on here, but at some point, some company needs to sign, and that company needs to be licensed and have the funds.

It seems the point of this wasn't necessarily to insure, but delay the trial. This delay will work. There is a hearing April 22nd. It needs to be the last. Trump claiming to find another bond holder who claims to be able to pay, needs to prove that up front, or there's no reason he can't keep kicking this can indefinitely.

- - - Updated - - -

Following Eastman having his license to practice law yanked by the CA Bar

UPDATE: The man who wrote the plan to stay in power despite losing fairly and legally, says he will stay in power despite losing fairly and legally.

Eastman said in an interview on conservative network Frank Speech on Thursday that “there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge yet” before the state Supreme Court hears his case.

“If the law was faithfully followed, this case should have never been brought in the first place,” he said.

“We had a disagreement on the facts of the 2020 election. We had a disagreement on the constitutional interpretation on issues that have never been settled,” Eastman continued. “That has never been the basis of disciplinary action.”

Yeah, he says he's going to win on appeal. I didn't even know the ABA had appeals, to be honest. But the question is...why? On what grounds? The decision against him was over one hundred pages and Eastman did not volunteer a single possible error, other than "I don't want to suffer the consequences of my actions."

Meanwhile, the iron is hot, and people are striking.

He also said he has been subpoenaed as part of a civil suit brought by a group of Capitol Police officers against Trump. The officers claim Trump is responsible for Jan. 6, and they hope to elicit financial penalties for the violence they suffered in the riots.

“I just got a subpoena served on us last week by the Capitol Police officers seeking everything, all of my communications with the president and anybody else,” he said. “They’ve completely blown through attorney-client privilege.”

"Wait, he was only now disbarred. That means he was a lawyer at the time."

No, the disbarring says he wasn't acting as a lawyer, that's why he was disbarred. Once the police, or anyone, gets through that privilege, we'll see...let's be honest, Eastman will have destroyed everything. That's obstruction of justice, and that's a felony.

Eastman is going to jail.

[Kaleredar]

It’s difficult to say whether trump and co intentionally sought out a company that wouldn’t be able to field the coverage so they could delay for the umpteenth time… or if it was just blind stupidity on their part and they dumb lucked out in finding yet another stall tactic for Trump to abuse.

[Endus]

It’s difficult to say whether trump and co intentionally sought out a company that wouldn’t be able to field the coverage so they could delay for the umpteenth time… or if it was just blind stupidity on their part and they dumb lucked out in finding yet another stall tactic for Trump to abuse.

Trump said he had $500m in cash days before the deadline, he just wanted to spend it on campaigning rather than his legal penalties. I think the silliest maxim in the world is Hanlon's Razor; never attribute to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity. I'm not actually certain that there's much of a meaningful difference; hatred and abuse driven by stupidity isn't somehow less malicious than if it were driven by intelligence.

And in cases like this, malice should be assumed. It's a question of whether the law even applies to rich people in the USA at this point. So far, the answer pretty clearly appears to be "lol no". It's a fuckin' embarrassment for you folks, this is banana republic bullshit.

[Gorsameth]

It’s difficult to say whether trump and co intentionally sought out a company that wouldn’t be able to field the coverage so they could delay for the umpteenth time… or if it was just blind stupidity on their part and they dumb lucked out in finding yet another stall tactic for Trump to abuse.

I can actually see this not being Trumps fault. 1 company was willing to put up his bailout without asking excessive collateral that he doesn't have (the fact that he supposedly payed in cash but didn't actually pay and kept the money 'secure' himself leads me to believe he doesn't have the cash) turns out to be not be allowed to post the bail (allegedly). I can entirely see the lawyers not double checking the companies licenses in the dash to get everything sorted in time for the deadline.

[Rasulis]

DJT stock is down into the $42s now. It did hit $41s earlier. If by closing it is below $40, short-term short sellers would have done the almost impossible and actually made profit despite the 500% - 800% borrowing cost.

Unless the stock starts to pick up substantially, this could turn into a rout much sooner than anticipated.

To put this into perspective. In March, the platform’s average daily active users on its app in the U.S. was less than 1 percent of Elon Musk’s X, according to research firm Similarweb.

The company's stated goal is to become “a media and technology powerhouse” that would rival Big Tech giants. I don't think Mark Zuckerberg is quaking in his boots.

[Belize]

DJT stock is down into the $42s now. It did hit $41s earlier. If by closing it is below $40, short-term short sellers would have done the almost impossible and actually made profit despite the 500% - 800% borrowing cost.

Unless the stock starts to pick up substantially, this could turn into a rout much sooner than anticipated.

To put this into perspective. In March, the platform’s average daily active users on its app in the U.S. was less than 1 percent of Elon Musk’s X, according to research firm Similarweb.

The company's stated goal is to become “a media and technology powerhouse” that would rival Big Tech giants. I don't think Mark Zuckerberg is quaking in his boots.

It's pretty obvious this was always a money-laundering/fleecing scam.

Let's see how much Trump will have made before it inevitably collapses.

[Rasulis]

It's pretty obvious this was always a money-laundering/fleecing scam.

Let's see how much Trump will have made before it inevitably collapses.

It has always been a meme stock. Everybody knows that it will crash sooner or later. For those trying to profit, the question is when. My bet is unless the stock makes it back into the $50s by closing today, holding on to the stock will become especially risky. We may be seeing a rout much sooner than anticipated as in next week.

[Edge-]

https://www.propublica.org/article/t...s-court-hankey

Former President Donald Trump scored a victory last week when a New York court slashed the amount he had to put up while appealing his civil fraud case to $175 million.

His lawyers had told the appellate court it was a “practical impossibility” to get a bond for the full amount of the lower court’s judgment, $464 million. All of the 30 or so firms Trump had approached balked, either refusing to take the risk or not wanting to accept real estate as collateral, they said. That made raising the full amount “an impossible bond requirement.”

But before the judges ruled, the impossible became possible: A billionaire lender approached Trump about providing a bond for the full amount.

The lawyers never filed paperwork alerting the appeals court. That failure may have violated ethics rules, legal experts say.

In an interview with ProPublica, billionaire California financier Don Hankey said he reached out to Trump’s camp several days before the bond was lowered, expressing willingness to offer the full amount and to use real estate as collateral.

“I saw that they were rejected by everyone and I said, ‘Gee, that doesn’t seem like a difficult bond to post,’” Hankey said.

As negotiations between Hankey and Trump’s representatives were underway, the appellate court ruled in Trump’s favor, lowering the bond to $175 million. The court did not give an explanation for its ruling.

Hankey ended up giving Trump a bond for the lowered amount.

It’s unclear if Trump lawyer Alina Habba or the rest of his legal team were made aware that Hankey reached out about a deal for the full amount. Trump’s legal team did not respond to requests for comment.

So Donald may have actually been able to cover the larger bond, but just didn't bother to make the judge, or maybe even his lawyers, aware of the offer.

After ProPublica reached out to Trump’s representatives, Hankey called back and revised his account. He said he had heard “indirectly” about ProPublica’s subsequent inquiries to Trump’s lawyers. In the second conversation, he said that accepting the real estate as collateral would have been complicated and that he wouldn’t have been able to “commit” to providing a bond in the full amount “until I evaluate the assets.”

Legal ethics experts said it would be troubling if Trump’s lawyers knew about Hankey’s approach and failed to notify the court.

New York state’s rules of professional conduct for lawyers forbid attorneys from knowingly making false statements to a court. At the time Trump’s lawyers told the court that meeting the bond would be impossible, Hankey said he had not yet reached out to the Trump team.

And weird how the story always changes when a reporter reaches out for comment.

[Breccia]

Unless the stock starts to pick up substantially, this could turn into a rout much sooner than anticipated.

This is why Trump wanted to sell quickly, of course. I'm no longer sure of all the details and it's Friday so I'm not checking, but, it looks like it is down almost exactly 50% from its peak March 26th. Trump has lost two billion in two weeks.

What's left is still a lifeline, of course. This scam is objectively good for him. But if he had been able to sell while the price was high, which contractually he was blocked from doing, even with the resulting price crash from his massive offload and his massive butt, he's have made more in value than he's holding now -- and could have just thrown cash at both of his appeals judgements without blinking. Still, this sale is basically people handing Trump large piles of money for a company they know for a fact has no value.

I don't know if that contested bond will go through, but I do know he needs it to. He keeps making Trump-style business decisions that keep losing money, and scams only work if the scammer isn't caught. That stock could be nearly meaningless before he's even allowed to sell -- and yes, suing the other holders probably isn't going to help.

- - - Updated - - -

“until I evaluate the assets.”

Hey Edge- why don't you think he'd accept Trump's valuation of the assets? And also, how do you feel about leading questions?

[postman1782]

Trump stock price dropped another $5 bucks today, it is now below what it started at when it went public. It closed at 40.59, it started at 46.15 today, down 12%.