Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency scheme is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of some of his biggest supporters.
Speaking on his podcast Monday, far-right influencer and The Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro called on the president to “stop,” openly questioning how Trump’s meme coin grift could be considered good for America, rather than just good for his pockets.
“It just isn’t America first in any conceivable way,” Shapiro said.
Last month, Trump announced a competition to see who could obtain the highest average Trumpcoin balance within a three-week period. That period ended Monday, with the top 220 reportedly winning a private dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington with the president.
The top 25 investors in TRUMP tokens are eligible to receive VIP access to the dinner event, opening the opportunity for them to take photos alongside Trump and receive a guided tour of the property the following day. As of last week, 19 of the top 25 holders registered on the meme coin site used foreign exchanges that exclude U.S.-based customers, reported Bloomberg. That means—as Shapiro deduced—that “foreigners are buying a lot of meme coin and then getting meetings with President Trump.
“This raises the question of influence peddling,” Shapiro continued. “If you basically buy a bunch of Trump meme coin and then funnel money to organizations associated with President Trump so you can have dinner with Trump. That doesn’t look great.”
Shapiro also chastised Trump for recently accepting several gifts that could be interpreted as foreign bribes, including a super luxury jumbo jet from Qatar—one of the most lavish gifts ever bestowed to a U.S. president.
“Does any of this help advance the president’s agenda?” Shapiro continued. “You know the agenda that we all voted for, the agenda we want to see implemented. Does this make his presidency stronger or weaker? Now I’m gonna repeat again, I don’t know whether this activity is criminal in any way, but things do not have to be criminal to hurt the agenda.
“Why in the world would President Trump be well served by this sort of vulnerability? Again, more importantly, why would those of us who voted for him, who gave to his campaign, who stumped for him, campaigned for him, be well served by this? The answer is we aren’t, and that’s why it needs to stop,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro isn’t the only MAGA talking head to come down hard on their political leader for accepting the plane. Earlier Monday, Laura Loomer went scorched earth on Trump, damning his acceptance of the jet as a “$400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits.”
Non-MAGA critics of Trump’s cryptocurrency have flagged the investment as a novel way to circumnavigate Federal Election Commission contribution limits, which prevent individuals from donating more than $3,500 per election to their candidate of choice.
Trump has tried to position himself as a pro-crypto president. At a bitcoin conference in Nashville in July, Trump promised to build out a “strategic national bitcoin reserve” if elected, according to CoinDesk.
But others have derided the memecoin as little more than another money-grabbing grift. Trump’s long list of election-year hustles included launching a remarkably ugly sneaker and a limited-edition $60 God Bless the USA Bible co-promoted by “God Bless the USA” singer Lee Greenwood. Trump also took the parent company of his social media platform Truth Social public and stamped his name on a new cryptocurrency platform headed by his two sons, Eric and Don Jr., that even the president’s allies have criticized as a “huge mistake.”
The post Trump’s Crypto Grift Is Pissing Off MAGA appeared first on New Republic.
