Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

This really is a full service blog.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Stay strong, because they are weak.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Open Thread: TFG’s Memecoin Dinner Grift Grab

Open Thread: TFG’s Memecoin Dinner Grift Grab

by | 84 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Here's the gala dining room that Trump meme coin holders spent millions to attend

[image or embed]

— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell.com) May 22, 2025 at 6:25 PM

Hand to Goddess, I tried to post about this in advance, but the sheer scope of the fiscal flimflamery and the brazen depth of the corruption were beyond my descriptive capabilities. Here’s Wired‘s mid-May report: “A VIP Seat at Donald Trump’s Crypto Dinner Cost at Least $2 Million”:

Ten days from now, 220 crypto investors will sit down to a lavish three-course dinner and enjoy “stunning views of the Potomac river” with US president Donald Trump at his 600-acre golf club in Washington, DC. To earn an invitation, all they had to do was buy a boatload of the president’s personal crypto coin…

And here’s the CNN report of last night’s “gala”:

More than 200 wealthy crypto bros gathered for a private event at President Donald Trump’s golf club just outside Washington, DC, on Thursday night — dining on filet mignon and halibut while the president stood at a podium regaling them with tales of his 2024 victory.

The black-tie dinner was a special reward for the top 220 holders of the president’s personal $TRUMP meme coin, with those in the room having contributed millions in investment in his crypto token. The 25 biggest investors got an even more exclusive privilege — access to a small VIP reception with the president. Media reports estimate the purchases and associated fees of the coin have generated an estimated hundreds of millions in fees for its issuer.

Guests were required to complete a background check to attend the evening’s festivities, according to a copy of the invitation viewed by CNN. The invite told them not to arrive before 5:30 p.m., with the dinner starting at 7 p.m…

The dinner, which was billed by the White House as an event Trump was attending in his personal capacity, caused a flurry of concern back in Washington, with critics’ chief concern being that it presented foreigners with the opportunity to purchase access to the president. The Constitution bans a president from receiving foreign gifts without Congressional consent…

Pretty intense protests outside the Trump meme coin dinner, which you can see / hear in this video from former NBA player turned meme coin guy Lamar Odom

[image or embed]

— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell.com) May 22, 2025 at 6:35 PM

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back heavily on those claims during a press briefing hours before the dinner, telling reporters it was “absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency.”

Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto mogul who, until recently, was facing civil fraud charges in the United States, was not only among those in attendance — but was lauded as the top holder of Trump’s meme coin.

According to a video Sun posted to Instagram, his investment amounted to 1,319,904.266 in “time weighted $TRUMP holdings,” which are currently valued at about $18 million…

Video from Chinese crypto billionaire (and Trump coin holder) Justin Sun shows Trump getting off Marine One helicopter at his golf club.
White House keeps saying this is not a White House event – it's president's "personal time" – and yet government aircraft are being flown at taxpayer expense

[image or embed]

— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell.com) May 22, 2025 at 8:08 PM

[One attendee] claimed Trump gave a 20-minute speech “and didn’t interact with the crowd other than enjoying being celebrated,” according to his post. “Even VIP token holders (I know some) couldn’t speak or even shake hands with the president. It was still well worth it to experience the president live and watch his mightily secured arrival and departure.” …
 
Despite many of the guests publicly sharing about their attendance online, a key question moving forward is whether the White House will share a comprehensive list of who was present for the event.
 
Because crypto is anonymous by design, the identities of the top investors aren’t easy to pin down.
 
When CNN asked the White House whether a gala guest list would be released, a spokesperson replied with a statement saying: “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.”
 
Standing at a podium before the crowd, Trump recounted his 2024 presidential victory over former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris…
 
While Trump delivered remarks, guests enjoyed a meal from a menu titled “Donald J Trump $TRUMP Gala Dinner.”
 
The first course featured a “Trump Organic Field Green Salad,” with the second including filet mignon finished with a demi glaze sauce or pan seared halibut finished with citrus reduction sauce, both served with garlic mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley, according to copies of the menu viewed by CNN.
 
For dessert, guests enjoyed a warm lava cake, “with valrhona chocolate, crispy chocolate pearls and a caramel sauce.”
 
Beside the tables, guests posed next to sign of Trump holding up his fist with words “Fight, Fight, Fight” printed over him. The sign, which was displayed in a printed golden frame, included a link to a site where the public can purchase more $TRUMP coins: GetTrumpMemes.com.

Bonus read: Cryptocurrency reporter/sceptic Molly White, at her Citatation Needed, with a thorough pre-event exploration — “Meet Trump’s memecoin dinner guests”:

…The $TRUMP dinner represents the latest in a series of crypto ventures that have enriched Trump and his family while creating unprecedented conflicts of interest, as the president simultaneously shapes crypto policy and intervenes in regulatory actions. Even prior to its transformation into a dinner invitation, ethics watchdogs and legislators alike sounded the alarm over the memecoin as “the single worst conflict of interest in the modern history of the presidency”. Now, even some of Trump’s biggest allies are getting uncomfortable, with Republican Cynthia Lummis admitting the dinner “gives [her] pause”. Democrat Jon Ossoff, speaking at a town hall, commented that “granting audiences to people who buy his memecoin” is “no question … an impeachable offense.”

Reader Interactions

84Comments

  1. 1.

    trollhattan

    Do VIPs at a Trump even get to sit as far away from Trump as possible?

    Also, is there any way not to see $TRUMP and jump straight to STRUMPET?

  2. 2.

    Parfigliano

    The piece of shit just keeps sinking lower and lower.  There is no bottom.

  5. 5.

    Old School

    Nicholas Pinto, a 25-year-old social media influencer, accumulated more than $360,000 in President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency to attend an “unforgettable Gala DINNER” with the commander-in-chief. The food, though, was forgettable. “Trash,” Pinto texted Fortune during the banquet. “Walmart steak, man.”

    The menu included a “Trump organic field green salad” and an “entrée duet” of filet mignon and pan-seared halibut. “Everyone at my table was saying the food was some of the worst food that they ever had,” said Pinto after the meal.

  6. 6.

    RedDirtGirl

    There was a link in an earlier thread to an article in Fortune Magazine where an attendee said the steak tasted like it had come from Walmart.

  8. 8.

    Suzanne

    “Trump Organic Field Green Salad”

    The jokes are writing themselves in my mind. None of them are appropriate.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    No one is insinuating, they’re stating it as a foregone conclusion loud and clear.

  10. 10.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Parfigliano:

    With Trump and basically the modern GOP, no matter how low the bar is set, he or they will find a way to slither under it.

  12. 12.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: yes, we surely shall call them thusly. Mm-hmm.

    meanwhile, since it was private, I trust the criminality and impeachable qualities will be shaped into a pleasant lawsuit.. I won’t care if they serve it up without citrus reduction or organic salad. Just do it..

  14. 14.

    SpaceUnit

    It would have been the perfect touch if trump hadn’t even bothered to show up.  They should have placed a mock-up trump dummy at the podium and played a tape recording of him rambling.

  19. 19.

    Shakti

    On a positive note the Sysco Aramark hockey puck meat and vegetables boiled within an inch of liquidity probably means the attendees won’t get food borne illness. But wouldn’t it be a kick in the pants if the deregulated and defunded FDA meant that happened anyways?

    They did serve a salad.

  21. 21.

    JoyceH

    I really roll my eyes at the pretentiousness of “three course meal”, which these days merely means a salad, an entree, and a piece of cake. People should read up on dinner parties in the Regency and Victorian eras to learn what genuinely lavish dining was.

    The fact that the food sucked and these fools didn’t even get the “access” they thought they were buying is just the Chef’s Kiss of the whole event.

  23. 23.

    sab

    @JoyceH:He is just a con man and all of his supporters are marks. The rest of us are just insignificant collateral damage.

  24. 24.

    Shakti

    This inspires incredibly tasteless cascading shaggy dog stories about a swank restaurant in an airplane. Should I be afraid to say it for reasons other than it needs better timing?

  25. 25.

    Shakti

    @Westyny: Oh shit, that’s going to be the blockbuster remake of Disney’s Pinocchio once they crush all opposition into the ground/AI wins ending copyrights and patents once and for all.

  26. 26.

    JoyceH

    @sab: But the Money Guys usually do get something in return for their bribes. The fact that he’s not even listening to them for a few minutes so they could feel like maybe they influenced policy tells me that his arrogance grows as his dementia deepens. But I do love that these crypto clowns got stiffed. Maybe they should have asked Trump U students about the education they received.

  27. 27.

    Old School

    The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday opened an investigation into Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization that has published research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. The regulator said in a letter sent to the organization that it was investigating the group, which is aligned with Democrats, over whether it illegally colluded with advertisers, according to the people.

  28. 28.

    Elizabelle

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I’ll admit that it’s funny how much he despises his own marks.

    That is true.

    And.

    I wish that Karoline Leavitt would swallow her tongue.  She is such a fucking liar.  A psychopath, really.   She is a spokesperson for criminals and psychopaths.

    $Trumpers on parade.

     

  29. 29.

    Jay

    Justin Sun got exactly what he paid for by joining the board of DJTdiot’s crypto and buying millions of dollars in DJTdiot’s memecoins.

    DJTdiot’s SEC dropped the fraud case against him and his companies,  Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry, saving him billions in fines, closure and probable criminal charges.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back heavily on those claims during a press briefing hours before the dinner, telling reporters it was “absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency.”

    and

    When CNN asked the White House whether a gala guest list would be released, a spokesperson replied with a statement saying: “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.”

    These liars.  I wish the insides of their mouths would catch on fire.  All of them, frankly.  DIAF, liars.

  31. 31.

    Jay

    As the second Trump administration passed its 100 day mark, pundits expressed awe at the “astonishing” amount the president had purportedly accomplished.

    Trump and his cronies have certainly engaged in more flagrantly illegal and wantonly destructive activities than any modern presidential administration, and in a strikingly brief time. But as we head toward the sixth month of Trump 2.0, it is becoming increasingly clear how little there is to it apart from self-enrichment and nihilism.

    In his second term in office, Trump is, truly, being Trump. He’s rigorously demanding that the government be “operated” the way he conducted business for decades — that is, solely and exclusively for short-term gain and self-aggrandizement. The result, it is becoming clear, is a regime that leaves chaos in its wake instead of creating anything approaching the foundation for a legacy.

    publicnotice.co/p/trump-cabinet-of-dunces-noem-bondi-rfk-mcmahon

  32. 32.

    Princess

    I got better access to Hillary and Obama at events I paid $150 to attend.

    The food at the Hillary brunch was ah-mazing

  33. 33.

    Jay

    @Princess:

    It’s not about access, it’s about quid pro quo’s. Bribery, plain and simple.

    Too bad the US MSM has it’s collective head so far up their own asses that they can’t state the obvious.

    Justin Sun stood to lose $8.5 billion dollars of “his own money”, go to jail, have his $400 billion dollars worth of companies liquidated and cost the PRC Government crypto exchanges means of using crypto to do various stuff, anonymously, globally.

  34. 34.

    RevRick

    @Old School: MrsRev and I are having dinner at a local Thai restaurant with our son, and I just know that we’ll have a better meal than the $trump chumps.

  35. 35.

    Neldob

    He who sups with the devil needs a long spoon. What if they’re all devils dining?

  36. 36.

    RevRick

    @SpaceUnit: While that might have made the whole event even more degrading, Trump needs the fix of adulation to fill, though never really, the narcissistic hole where his self should be.

  37. 37.

    Jay

    @Neldob:

    Well, as we know, crypto is only good for drug dealing, kidnapping, data hacking, sex trafficking, fraud, etc.

    So yeah, a dinner with the Devil, well attended by lesser demons.

    DJTdiot and his crew are making Lucifer look like a better choice.

  38. 38.

    RevRick

    @Neldob: You must have read C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters to understand how banal, boring, and unimaginative the whole realm of deviltry is.

  40. 40.

    Tehanu

    It wouldn’t be so bad if he would just stick to the grifting.  His Nazi minions trashing democracy, vandalizing the government, and trying to destroy science and education are the real problem.

  42. 42.

    JoyceH

    Ha! I’d read that no cellphones would be allowed at this “Gala”, but looks like one got snuck in.  Just saw a clip on Ari Melber. Doesn’t it sound like this event had all the glamor and pizzazz of a county Chamber of Commerce or Rotarian dinner?

  45. 45.

    Lawrence A Schuman

    Lava cake? I can get a fucking lava cake at Chili’s. And steak or fish? JFC, whose idea of luxury is this? Yes, everybody involved should die in a fire, but can’t they do anything right?

  49. 49.

    NutmegAgain

    That menu sounds like airplane food. Floofy description, I’ll bet, and sub-par actual food.  Those folks in that room have too much money for their own good.

  51. 51.

    WTFGhost

    [One attendee] claimed Trump gave a 20-minute speech “and didn’t interact with the crowd other than enjoying being celebrated,” according to his post. “Even VIP token holders (I know some) couldn’t speak or even shake hands with the president. It was still well worth it to experience the president live and watch his mightily secured arrival and departure.”

    I’m trying to imagine someone who spent over 2 million big ones to get a chance to rub elbows with the mighty, and instead just seeing him at a distance, and saying it was still worth it.

    A less trusting fellow than I would think that said attendee was told the quid was received, and the pro quo was ready for discussion. Hell, I think the same goddamn thing, so screw the “less trusting”.

  56. 56.

    WTFGhost

    @Jay: Over at digbysblog.net, they have a purported picture of the main course, and it’s worrisome. You could tell me any story about that plate, and I’d believe it. “It actually feel, face down, on the floor, so we just threw stuff on at random, and asked for another ice-cream scoop of potatoes that had at least a teaspoon of garlic powder in them.”

  58. 58.

    WTFGhost

    @Suzanne: Alas, all the jokes I can come up with are NC-17 and have nothing to do with sex (as such), so, I guess I’ll skip the ban part.

  60. 60.

    Manyakitty

    @Elizabelle: honest to god, I keep expecting snakes to come out of her eyes and a long, forked tongue to fall out every time she opens her foul mouth.

  62. 62.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Jay: Filet does no work, it’s the best cut of beef, and really hard to screw up. Often wrapped with bacon because it’s low fat.

    :: the sound of Homer Simpson vocally lusting after food::

    Excuse me…

  63. 63.

    NutmegAgain

    @WTFGhost: Looks like an ice cream scoop of reconstituted dried mashed potato flakes. A sad lump of a meat-like substance, a piece of fish, or possibly a chunk of leftover rubber from a sneaker factory, and some very depressed carrots. Yum-my!

  65. 65.

    Jay

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    Bacon makes everything better, eg, Brussel Sprouts.

    Fish and Brewis, oatmeal, (not porridge) , cod cheeks and bacon fat, for breakfast. Great fuel for a hard day in the North Atlantic.

  66. 66.

    Another Scott

    @WTFGhost: Thanks for the pointer.

    There’s more in the Wired story.

    The food itself had left a bitter taste in the mouth, too. “It was the worst food I’ve ever had at a Trump golf course,” says Pinto, who added he left hungry. “The only good thing was bread and butter.” Another attendee described the meal as “OK, but not top-class.”

    […]

    The presiding memory for one attendee remains the “warm welcome” that they received at the start of the evening. As they made their way through the security checkpoint at the front gate, they were greeted by a horde of protesters, brandishing signs reading “Stop Crypto Corruption” and “Don the Con” emblazoned with the orange bitcoin logo. “Shame on you,” the protesters shouted.

    FSM bless the protesters. May 47 never get a moment’s peace and quiet.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  67. 67.

    Jackie

    Per CNN:

    More than 100 National Security Council staffers at the White House were placed on administrative leave on Friday afternoon, and they were given just a half-hour to clean out their desks.

    The staffers learned they’d been dismissed in an email from the council’s chief of staff Brian McCormack, that was sent around 4:20 p.m. The staffers were given 30 minutes to clean out their desks, an official said. Anyone not on campus would have to email an address and figure out when they could retrieve their belongings and turn in devices.

    It must be Friday.

  69. 69.

    TF79

    White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back heavily on those claims during a press briefing hours before the dinner, telling reporters it was “absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency.”

     

    The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss

  73. 73.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Trump organic salad makes me think of a lettuce patch over Ivanka’s grave. Because I can’t think of anything more horrifying and it’s always the worst thing imaginable with him.

  76. 76.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of Republican Venality, …

    Dean Baker at CEPR – Can David Brooks Stop Lying?:

    I really did not want to waste my time writing about David Brooks just now. When Donald Trump is threatening democracy, the rule of law, and just about everything else that is decent about this country, I hate the idea of wasting time pissing on David Brooks. Unfortunately, I think it is necessary.

    Brooks persists in pushing a lie that bears considerable responsibility for getting us Donald Trump. In a piece titled “Can We Please Stop Lying About Obama?,” Brooks tell us that trade was no big deal and we should just get over it. Sorry folks, trade was a big deal and the people who try to tell you otherwise are the liars.

    There is a simple story, which is true, that Brooks uses to paper over the harm down [done?] by trade. The simple story is that manufacturing has been falling as a share of total employment since the 1970s. It was even falling in countries with large trade surpluses, like Germany and Japan.

    The reasons are straightforward. As we get richer, we spend more money on services, like going to restaurants and travel, and proportionately less on goods. In addition, manufacturing tends to have more rapid productivity growth than services, which means we need fewer workers in manufacturing to produce the same amount of output.

    That explains why manufacturing has been declining as a share of total employment in the United States and pretty much everywhere else. But that doesn’t explain the pattern we have seen in the United States.

    From 1970 to 2000, while there were cyclical ups and downs, manufacturing employment only fell by a bit more than 200,000, or 1.0 percent, over a thirty-year period. From December of 2000 to December of 2009, we lost 5.8 million manufacturing jobs, roughly one-third of total employment in the sector.

    That was not just the same pattern we had been seeing over the prior 30 years or the subsequent 15 years. This was a period when the trade deficit exploded, hitting 6.0 percent of GDP in 2005.

    The people who try to say either that this massive loss of manufacturing jobs was no big deal, or it had nothing to do with trade, are the liars. And the victims have every right to be angry over such lies.

    […]

    Click on over to read the rest.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  82. 82.

    prostratedragon

    The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

  84. 84.

    WTFGhost

    @LeftCoastYankee: Since it’s a dead thread, “…and for the dressing, the finest baby greens, dew picked from his left gluteal range, lightly wilted and blended in a reduction of the garlic-scented cheese from under his left man-boob.”

Comments are closed.