Meme Coins, Meme Presidents, and the Art of Going Big
By The Gonzo Poltergeist
May 7, 2025
“I think we’ve hit a new low, where we’re selling off access to the president in a dinner based on who puts the most money in a Swiss banking account.”
— Scott Galloway, Prof G Marketplace, April 28, 2025
There was a time when corruption had the decency to knock. Now it kicks in the door, livestreams the heist, and leaves you with a promo code for gold-plated commemorative coins and the Big Hurt’s boner pills. The grift isn’t hidden. It’s America’s last growth sector—and it’s right out in the open, sometimes even on the White House lawn.
This is the first installment of The Grift, a new weekly series from BatShitCrazy.com chronicling the American empire’s liquidation sale, one looted institution at a time. We’re not promising Wednesdays. But if there’s grift in the air—and there always is—we’ll be here.
At its core, The Grift is the story of a new American heart of darkness, best exemplified by the first family of monetized nihilism: Donald J. Trump, his wife, his children, and an ever-expanding constellation of loyalists, influence peddlers, crypto weirdos, consultants, preachers, PR firms, and—some, we assume—are good people. It’s not just bad behavior anymore. It’s a system. A culture. A lifestyle brand. And it’s looting whatever’s left of the American economy in real time.
Each week, we’ll dig into a new facet of the con—whether it’s the great tariff market manipulation, DJT stock (a glorified blog valued like it cures cancer), MAGA-themed cryptocurrencies being auctioned off like Wonka tickets to authoritarian cosplay, or Super PACs doubling as legal defense funds and Mar-a-Lago bar tabs. And speaking of bar tabs: let’s not forget the LIV Golf Tour.
The Saudis let Qatar have soccer (save Ronaldo’s soul) and bought the GOP instead—for pennies on the dollar. Trump courses have become regular stops on the LIV circuit, and at the center of it all stands Yasir Al-Rumayyan—our reigning Broligarch of the Month. He runs the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which bankrolls both the golf league and Jared Kushner’s post–White House retirement plan. It’s not a bug. It’s the business model.
And yes, that TrumpCoin dinner really happened.
On the April 28th episode of Scott Galloway’s Prof G Marketplace podcast, host Ed Elson teed it up like a posh TV host at a psilocybin retreat: “Scott, your thoughts, starting with Trumpcoin, Trump is inviting the top holders of Trumpcoin to an exclusive dinner and also an exclusive VIP tour of the White House.”
It sounded like parody. It wasn’t.
“I’ve got to give it to him for being this transparent… I think the Democrats have what I call low-grade dot co corruption—where Speaker Emmer or Pelosi trade stocks for tens or hundreds of thousands, maybe millions. But Trump? He’s like, if you’re going to be corrupt, go big. And somebody pitched him on this, and he said yes—because you can make billions. And that’s what he’s done here.”
— Scott Galloway
That’s the part that sticks. The grift isn’t just gross—it’s corrosive. It hollows out institutions, trashes alliances, and sells off whatever’s left of American credibility for one more news cycle, one more pump, one more golden dinner plate—but at least he’s thinking big.
Even the suits are worried. Ray Dalio has warned that Trump’s policies risk “breaking down the monetary order” and accelerating U.S. decline. Jamie Dimon has flagged Trump’s tariffs and erratic economics as a recessionary time bomb.
These aren’t fringe voices—they’re the ones who normally keep cashing checks while the house burns. If even they’re sounding the alarm, it’s a sign the grift isn’t an outlier anymore. It’s the center of gravity.
Even the infotainment complex has stopped pretending it’s news. Jimmy Kimmel recently mocked Trump for falling for a Facebook meme about MS-13, saying, “Our president is getting his intel from your aunt’s chain email.” At this point, satire isn’t keeping up. It’s filing paperwork.
And Ivanka? She’s running the long con. No rants, no coins, no court dates. Just hushed cameos at tech summits and a rebrand so smooth you forget she once shared an office with Stephen Miller. 😬
What used to be political graft is now a subscription service. Every scandal is monetized, every club lunch a limited-time offer. The revolution has a loyalty program now—not just a meme coin.
“I hope this thing gets a lot of attention, and a lot of people start focusing on what is easily the greatest financial grift in the history of presidents.”
— Scott Galloway
That’s why we’re here. Not to gawk, not to moralize… okay, maybe a little. But mostly to log the damage before the lights go out. This isn’t a freak show anymore. It’s Wednesday. And the worst part? It’s working.
New reporting from CNBC shows that more than 764,000 wallets lost money on Trump’s meme coin, while just 58 made over $10 million—for a total haul exceeding $1.1 billion. More on that in an upcoming dispatch—unless we get rugged first.
Filed from the emptied-out lobby of the Trump International Hotel, where the gold leaf is flaking and the minibar only takes Dogecoin.
