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Trump Media has proposed a new service that gives Wall Street firms 'high-speed access' to the US President's Truth Social posts. The new data feed will be called Truth API and will cost a $100,000 monthly fee. Truth Social is currently making a loss. Simon Marks is joined by George King, the Vice Chair of Democrats Abroad UK, to discuss what impact this could have. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #SimonMarks #News #USNews #Tech #Finance #USA #Politics #USPolitics #DonaldTrump #Trump #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
Even by the staggering standards of grift that have inflated the personal fortunes of the President and his family since he returned to the Oval Office
0:09
their latest plan to cash in on the Presidency beggars belief. As you know, the President uses his Truth Social account as one of his main tools of communication
0:19
Those of us covering his Presidency are always across it, waiting for the latest pronouncement in which the President invariably thanks us for our attention to this matter
0:29
But now the Trumps are poised to cash in by charging Wall Street traders and others $100,000 a month for early access to the messages that he posts
0:43
And let me explain how this works. Because in the world of high finance, in the financial markets, the earlier a trader can learn something, can learn of events or announcements
0:55
the more that trader can benefit by acting on that knowledge. That's why the first undersea cables, the early ticker tape machines
1:04
were so valued by traders in the 19th and 20th centuries. Well, today, the equivalent of that is the chance to see Trump's announcements
1:13
milliseconds earlier than everyone else. Traders can make a mint by engaging in that activity
1:22
Trump is suggesting that if they fork over 100 grand a month to the company that owns Truth Social, which he owns, everyone's a winner
1:31
Let's find out what George King, vice chair of Democrats Abroad UK, thinks of all of this
1:38
I mean, George, this is this is I mean, you don't have to be a Democrat to think that this is a staggering proposal that President Trump is making
1:47
I mean, we heard before the news headlines there, Steve Leisman of CNBC
1:51
there will be many Republicans including some supporters of Donald Trump that find themselves opposed to this proposal Good afternoon Good afternoon and I appreciate your framing of that
2:06
I think you're absolutely right. This is not about being a Democrat. This is not even about being just an American
2:11
I think any conscious person with any sense of fair play, rules, recognizes the insanity of this
2:19
And I think your framing of this as a continuation of the grift is a good one
2:23
I think it's useful, though, to take a step back maybe for your listeners. I don't think everyone understands what's happening with Truth Social
2:30
So I'll make four very quick points for you. First of all, Truth Social is failing, right
2:34
This thing launched about two years ago in March 24 at almost $58 a share
2:40
It's now in single digits. This thing has lost something like a billion dollars over the last two years
2:45
This is a massively failing enterprise. So part of what's happening or the main part of what's happening here is they are trying to prop this thing up by throwing money into it
2:55
That's the key new thing, because what is not new is Trump for a long time has been whispering to his buddies and his friends what his posts are going to be
3:04
You've been seeing all sorts of ridiculous trading activity in advance of these posts
3:08
So the idea that there's insider knowledge being shared unethically, illegally and so forth is not new news
3:15
That has been going on for some time. The new news part is that he's trying to now monetize us in a way to prop up this completely failing property
3:24
Now, I think it's worth making the point, George, that Democrats are not entirely immune from enjoying very positive moves in their own investment accounts
3:37
I mean, there is even a company that markets the ability for people to literally invest in a stock account that follows all of Nancy Pelosi's trades
3:48
And that's done staggeringly well over the years. And it is fair to say that trading houses subscribe to a whole variety of different services in order to learn things about events that are going to move markets
4:03
and sometimes to see things earlier than the rest of us see
4:08
So why is... Go ahead. That's a good point you're making, but the main difference is that those entities are not set up by those people themselves to benefit
4:19
So me as a third party entity might say, hey, I think I can get paid if I track everything Nancy Pelosi says, gather that together, send that out to interested parties
4:29
I think I can get paid for that. Nancy Pelosi isn't getting paid for that
4:33
That's the difference. And the idea that he's trying to exploit a loophole in the U.S. legislation and the U.S. laws around this that prohibits every government employee from doing this
4:45
but has, unfortunately, a weird carve-out for the presidency and the vice presidency
4:51
Plus, he got a get-out-of-jill-free card already from the Supreme Court saying anything the president does in his official capacity can't be prosecuted
5:00
Clearly, he's going to push the illegal boundaries to the max. Yeah, absolutely. I'd like to ask you about one other issue, George
5:07
There's a lot of talk here, as you know, about the possibility of Andy Burnham introducing a wealth tax in the UK
5:15
Out in California, there is now a proposal to introduce a wealth tax
5:20
And I see that on the front pages of one of the newspapers here today
5:24
it is evident that a significant number of millionaires and billionaires are fleeing the state
5:32
Does that tell us anything about what could happen there based on the huge opposition to the wealth tax among the wealthy that is taking place in California
5:44
So I'm glad you raised that. And obviously it's very early days
5:48
Let me clarify a couple of good points. And first of all I should say that while I here speaking to you with sort of my political hat on my professional hat is in the wealth industry dealing high net worth investors in the U and the U So this is an area that I know a little bit about and have looked at for decades
6:03
And this happens all the time. Every time any jurisdiction anywhere says we want to do some kind of new tax for the wealthy, everyone screams, oh, my God, they're all going to leave
6:13
And that almost never really happens. in part because the reason that wealthy people are where they are has to do with a lot of other
6:21
factors of schools and property and how you live and going to the opera or whatever else it is
6:26
as well as the fact that it's because they are in this place that they created their wealth
6:30
Silicon Valley doesn't exist everywhere. It exists in California. So the likelihood that
6:35
you have this massive, massive exodus of people is unlikely. And that's not been the case almost
6:41
anywhere in the world whenever these type of wealth issues come up. Plus, this is a one-time
6:45
tax that is clearly about making the economy in which they themselves thrive, in which their
6:51
employees and families live, better for education, for health care, specifically targeted money. It's
6:56
not just going into some pool to be wasted by politicians. And most importantly, it's not being
7:01
imposed by the government. It's being voted on. Just like the redistricting thing in California
7:07
as opposed to other states where they just imposed it in the Republican states here, it's being put to the people to vote on
7:13
So I think this is a topic that's going to keep coming up
7:17
not just in the UK, but worldwide, is that there's massive wealth disparity, and that's getting bigger and bigger
7:22
We have huge social problems that we need to solve, and there's not enough money
7:26
And the idea that there's a question that those who are getting ridiculously rich
7:31
based on the society and structures that we have that they're benefiting from, maybe that aren't making a fair contribution
7:37
especially using tax loopholes and offshore structures and so forth, So this topic is going to keep coming up
7:42
And I think the experiment we're seeing in California will be useful to watch
7:46
Very useful to watch. George King, I'm enormously glad we had you on this afternoon
7:50
Vice Chair of Democrats Abroad, thanks so much for being on LBC this afternoon
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