Throughout his second stint in the Oval Office, Donald Trump has raked in over a billion dollars on the backs of his most loyal acolytes. Some of his grifts harken back to the Trump cons of yesteryear, like the spectacularly cringeworthy Trump Mobile smartphone, a “made in America” device that was, predictably, produced entirely in China.
Most of the president’s most successful pulls, however, are predicated on either the cryptocurrency market, where winner-take-all scams are the name of the game, or fly-by-night stock offerings that get a temporary boost from the business mogul’s endorsement. And as Trump pulls the billion-dollar ladder out from under him time and again, his ride-or-dies are starting to crack.
One superfan, Vadim Fistikan, spoke to Forbes about what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a presidential con job. After painstakingly saving over $100,000 to buy a house near his family, Fistikan, a truck driver by trade, got wind of the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, being built around the president’s Truth Social social network.
“I’m like, ‘I’m getting in,’” Fistikan told Forbes. At its peak, the trucker’s investment in the president’s social media firm reached $205,000 — a life-changing amount of money for a working class person in the United States. Today, Fistikan told the publication his investment is worth a dismal $30,000.
