# A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 19, 2023, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250 "2023-05-19T03:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 261
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5202 "2024-04-01T21:13:52Z")
So what occurred there, right around 10ish? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5203 "2024-04-01T21:17:01Z")
Around 9:30? That’s the opening bell, i.e. the price plummeted as soon as trading began. Somebody made a killing today selling short ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5204 "2024-04-01T21:17:09Z")
There was a regulatory filing today. I’m going to guess that’s about when it went public. > **[Truth Social Lost More Than $100 Million in Two Years](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/truth-social-lost-100-million-two-years-stock-market-1234997255/)** > > Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social reported a loss of $58 million in 2023 days after it's stock market debut. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5205 "2024-04-01T21:18:00Z")
Now that’s funny! (Not the edit, it’s funny that it dropped as soon as the market opened. I don’t understand this shit.) I also now see that the chart seems to reflect mountain (air guitar) time. So nevermind me. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5206 "2024-04-01T21:37:54Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > The SNL Trump said it would also have Miranda rights printed. Is that what Trump thinks his wife’s name is now? ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5207 "2024-04-01T21:46:10Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Somebody made a killing today selling short So Trump can’t sell any stock for 6 months, but can he short it? I find it oddly funny if he makes a killing shorting it. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5208 "2024-04-01T21:47:15Z")
Good one! ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5209 "2024-04-01T21:58:17Z")
> [@dougrb](#): > > So Trump can’t sell any stock for 6 months, but can he short it? That would violate a ton of SEC regs, so no. Of course he would never do anything unethical. /s But actually the stock is almost impossible to short, by anyone. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5210 "2024-04-01T22:08:22Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Is that what Trump thinks his wife’s name is now? OH Miranda… Tell me again how anything I say can and WILL be used against me. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5211 "2024-04-01T22:23:21Z")
> [@dougrb](#): > > So Trump can’t sell any stock for 6 months, but can he short it? If he’s considered an insider – and it would appear that he is – he can’t sell short at any time – strictly against SEC regs. For Trump, of course, that would be just another criminal charge he’ll try to weasel out of. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5212 "2024-04-01T22:30:23Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > But actually the stock is almost impossible to short, by anyone. Tell me about it! Still schadenfreudy to watch, just not lucrative. > [@Smapti](#): > > This stock ticker brings joy to my heart; I’ll watch it become a penny stock with glee. He has to hold on to it 6 months? I hope it takes 5 months and 3 weeks. Or just two weeks, that would be fine too. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5213 "2024-04-01T22:56:50Z")
I understand that TS has relatively few users and therefore a poor advertising base, but FFS, what the hell did they spend all their money on in 2023 that ate up **all** their revenue and put them $58 million in the hole? Servers, electricity, and internet bandwidth just aren’t remotely that expensive even at large scales, which TS isn’t. Salaries? In round numbers say an average gross loaded cost of $100K per employee. So a million dollars supports ten employees for a year, and I doubt that penny-pinching clown show had much more than that. So where’s the money going? _Mother Jones_ provides some clues: > A big portion of that loss—$40 million—came from interest expenses, but it also lost about $14 million in business expenses. And, totally unsurprisingly, the grifters, made in Trump’s own image, are grifting like mad … > For a company that has so few users—the _Washington Post_ estimated that last Monday it had just 277,000 users, the most of any day last month, compared to tens of millions for its competitors—its books are larded with high salaries for executives, like $750,000 for CEO and former Congressman Devin Nunes, who could get a bump to $1 million within two years. Prior to joining Truth Social, Nunes’ most notable social media experience may have been filing a lawsuit against a Twitter account [pretending](https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2021/12/the-guy-who-tried-to-sue-a-fake-twitter-cow-is-going-to-lead-trumps-media-company/) to be one of the cows from his family’s farm. > > There are also big checks for “advisors,” including close Trump associates Dan Scavino, who is earning $240,000 a year, and Kash Patel, who is getting another $130,000. Scavino worked for Trump, managing various golf courses, before following him to the White House where he ran Trump’s social media accounts. > **[Trump's Truth Social lost $58 Million last year!](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/04/trumps-truth-social-lost-58-million-last-year/)** > > The former president's social media company saw its share price plummet Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5214 "2024-04-01T23:07:43Z")
Trump must be ruminating about how to milk this TS bonanza that is not cashable. Might he be thinking along the lines that he could get a contract from TS as an advisor, for just lousy 500$ million each month? He is the majority stakeholder, could he force that? Would that run against the SEC rules? Just knowing how important money and stock market valuations are for him it must be nerve wracking to know that the stock is going to tank, there must be some way to cheat! But everybody is watching, so he is screwed if he cheats, and he is screwed if he doesn’t. What was the title of this thread again? Schadenfreude indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5215 "2024-04-01T23:24:39Z")
You mean to tell me a Trump-branded enterprise was nothing more than a grift intended to con finance bros out of their money and funnel it into the pockets of Trump and his cronies? I for one am shocked and horrified. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5216 "2024-04-02T01:10:35Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > But actually the stock is almost impossible to short, by anyone Could you elaborate? My husband says that it’s the leading stock to be shorted right now and Stephanie Ruhl says that it cannot be shorted right now (no borrow?). I don’t understand the situation. Thank you Addendum - I count as a user, but I’m there to look and laugh, and I doubt I’m alone. Add the press, and bots. Their user numbers are undoubtedly inflated. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5217 "2024-04-02T02:08:32Z")
It’s something that’s true _now_ but wasn’t the first few days. And a few people did make out pretty well. Not anymore. A lot of people clearly think it’s overvalued. But that’s a problem in itself. To sell short, you need to borrow shares to short. There’s naturally a cost to borrow such shares (the idea is you will ‘buy’ it later meaning you don’t have it now to sell). Nobody is going to lend those for free. But there’s so much demand from short sellers that borrowing costs have become prohibitively expensive, so it’s only worth it if the value doesn’t just drop but drop massively in the short term. Basically, there’s too many people who think the stock is overvalued, so it works against them - you can make good money through the borrowing fees from shorters now. In a weird way, that’s how it’s supposed to work. We don’t want stocks dropping or rising that fast in general. It’s only a risk here because of the absurdly high valuation. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5218 "2024-04-02T02:28:18Z")
Thank you! That was very helpful 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5219 "2024-04-02T12:35:05Z")
I’ll add to that what I’ve said in other threads: The only risk-free\* way to get and remain short in stocks like DJT is to buy put options. A put option is a contract that gives you the right to sell a security at a fixed price on or before a fixed date. For example, the June 40 puts in DJT give you the right to sell DJT at $40/share any time on or before (I believe) the 3rd Friday in June. If the stock is below $40, you exercise your put and sell stock, which you can buy back cheaper and pocket the difference. If the stock remains above $40, your option will expire worthless. There are puts going out to January and beyond. They’re expensive, but if you’re so inclined you can lock in a long-term bet against DJT and not have to worry about borrowing or shorting the stock. \*Your only risk is the money you spend on the put option. You can’t lose more than that, no matter what the stock price does. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5220 "2024-04-02T13:25:28Z")
The losses keep mounting! First $58 million, then $1 billion and now [4 billion](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-s-truth-social-loses-4-billion-in-value-in-one-week/ar-BB1kTLV0?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=d71b9811fd244a4687151b0c22c8fdcd&ei=12). Nelson Muntz: Ha-ha! ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/5221 "2024-04-02T13:28:27Z")
And Peter Navarro [loses another appeal](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/appeals-court-sides-with-judge-who-threatened-peter-navarro-with-contempt/ar-BB1kTiOJ?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=d71b9811fd244a4687151b0c22c8fdcd&ei=25). It turns out that the Justice Department **does** have authority to enforce laws and subpoenas after all. Who knew? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250.md?page=260) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250.md?page=262)