President Biden's attempt to co-opt former President Trump's strategy of name-calling opponents hit a roadblock after the presumptive GOP nominee's social media company stock soared after going public.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) — a SPAC — adjusted its ticker to "DJT" on Tuesday after merging with Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which is led by former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.
In a recent statement, the Biden-Harris campaign dubbed Trump "Broke Don," saying, "Trump can't raise money, isn't campaigning, and is letting convicts and conspiracy theorists run his campaign," as the former president dealt with dueling New York court cases and a nine-figure bond within the past few days.
That statement, however, appeared to be mooted with the spike DWAC and later DJT saw on the exchanges in the past 48 hours, with "Outnumbered" co-host Harris Faulkner quipping that Biden "may need to rethink his latest campaign strategy of name-calling."
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"It appears the joke may be on Joe Biden," Faulkner said, as Trump's net worth, figuring in his large stake in TMTG as it increased in value, reportedly moved him onto the list of the world's 500 richest people.
For years, Trump has enjoyed success when branding his opponents with unsavory nicknames, such as "Crooked Hillary" Clinton, "Cryin' Chuck" Schumer, "Sleepy Eyes" Chuck Todd and Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren.
A former commerce official under then-President George W. Bush told "The Hill" Biden's attempt at nicknames was akin to playwright George Bernard Shaw's axiom, "Never wrestle with a pig because you'll both get dirty, and the pig likes it."
On "Outnumbered," Faulkner added that the media threw a fit over Trump's stock going public — playing a clip of MSNBC's Joy Reid accusing TMTG of "sound[ing] like a pump-and-dump" scheme, wherein a stock rapidly spikes so that bidders can suddenly "dump" the stock, crashing it back down while making a profit. Meanwhile, guests on CNBC were shown claiming the value is "essentially worthless."
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Nunes, however, celebrated his company's merger, saying in a statement Tuesday that TMTG was built to protect Americans' "voices and their freedom" as a social media alternative.
"Having transformed into a public company, Truth Social remains committed to maintaining and vehemently defending a digital space for free expression," he said.
The stock, however, saw its trading halted by the exchanges for periods on Tuesday, reportedly in accordance with Obama-era policies intended to manage sudden volatility.
FOX Business host Dagen McDowell estimated Tuesday that DJT stock's initial rise added $1.3 billion to Trump's net worth, while noting he cannot sell or borrow against his stake for six months under the deal's terms.
"Just a reminder, all of this was borne out of censorship," McDowell added. "This was [so] the self-appointed speech police could not shut up or shut down President Trump by kicking him off Twitter or Facebook, so he started Truth Social — supporters of President Trump, but also the haters have helped make him richer because this is where they had to go — they were forced to follow his messages on Truth Social."
