Good morning.
Paolo Confino filling in for Diane today.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been reporting a story about President-elect Donald Trump’s media company—the aptly named Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG). As of now TMTG is the parent company of Truth Social, the Twitter-like social media site, and a recently released free streaming app Truth+. It is also reportedly exploring the acquisition of crypto currency platform Baakt. While TMTG may not be the size of the Silicon Valley behemoths that dominate those industries, it is nonetheless slowly but surely building a business.
The President-elect holds no formal role at the company, but he is its largest shareholder, with about a 54% stake. Throughout his career, Trump was known as a real estate developer. Across the world, luxury buildings and hotels from Scotland to Oman carry his name. Now he’s reinvented himself as a tech entrepreneur. Of course that raises the question of whether a public official, especially one who occupies the Oval Office, should be a business executive at all.
In my article, I examine the brewing conflicts of interest at TMTG. Even now, before the President-elect takes office, it serves as a nexus of his influence across business and politics. Board members Linda McMahon and Kashyap Patel were nominated to cabinet positions, and longtime political ally and former California congressman Devin Nunes serves as chief executive. Content on the burgeoning streaming platform Truth+ is hosted by former Trump advisors like Steve Bannon and Lt. General Mike Flynn. Even Baakt, the crypto company TMTG is rumored to be interested in, was founded by former Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler.
In Trump’s first term, his hotel business served as an ethical minefield, with foreign governments booking massive room blocks, much to the chagrin of various watchdogs. Now, as Trump prepares to reenter the White House, might his new business present similar conflicts, albeit reprogrammed for the digital age?
“He's getting into new businesses, including social media and crypto and some other stuff. So what should they do? Divest,” President George W. Bush's former chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter told me.
But unlike the hotel and golf course business, social media has the ability to influence public opinion, Painter adds. That alone creates a whole new set of ethical and democratic quagmires for the nation. Especially in a world where we’re addicted to scrolling on our phones, and where much of the public’s news consumption has been reduced to short snippets on social media feeds.
“This is not just about profiting on social media,” Painter said. “It's about the ability to use the media to stay in power, which is why we traditionally have freedom of the press in the United States. We assume the media is going to be separate from the President.”
More news below.
Paolo Confino
paolo.confino@fortune.com
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