This story was originally posted in Raw Story
As we all know, Donald Trump has managed to unconstitutionally monetize the presidency to the point that he’s made over $2 billion since his inauguration. So the fact that his media platform reports that in one quarter of this year, it managed to lose almost one quarter of a billion dollars probably sounds effortlessly manageable personally. But that’s not the end of the story. This nose dive portends a far deeper loss than just money, or at least just Truth Social money, and some of it may tie back to a lack of effort or worse, lack of talent.
Social media- something so associated with Trump, nay, synonymous with Trump, something even removed from politics- might very well be playing the role of a canary, lost deep inside a smelly “clean coal” mine.
Trump Media, Operator of Truth Social, Reports Q2 Net Loss of $238.1 Million and Revenue of $1.7 Million https://t.co/nlVvOAchYr
— Variety (@Variety) August 10, 2026
Wait. Is it even possible to lose $238.1M on revenue of $1.7 million? Evidently so.
You learn something new every day.
Were irony not dead two terms over, it would enjoy the fact that Trump was so addicted to attention gained from social media that when faced with a ban nearly everywhere else, he decided he would start his own company, certain he alone could carry it. Well, he can’t, and that’s bad and yet not the worst part.
Unlike almost every other company he ever formed, he didn’t want to pay upfront costs himself. He went public. Perhaps his experience in the political arena made self-financing sound too much like making himself the mark this time. This is a guy who sends thousands of emails a day that bring in free money; why wouldn’t he get start-up money from shareholders? He did retain 40% of the shares, enough to enrich himself if it succeeded, too little to really lose much of his money.
But this story is less about financial losses and more about political loss or even cultural clout because of what the social media losses mean. The single fastest way to lose money with a social media site is to cram it with content as derivative as it is dumb, predictable as it is pretentious, stuff that elicits big yawns.
“But wait,” you’re almost surely saying. “His posts move markets, oil prices, tariffs, all that; people definitely care about what he posts.” No. It is more accurate to say that his posts used to move markets but far, far less so now. After all, the kool kidz weren’t the only ones noting the TACO tendency. Brokerage houses did, too. It turns out, roughly 20 announcements that he just ended the war with Iran somewhat quell excitement about announcements 21-25. Fewer banks are buying up their $100,000 chance to get early admission than anticipated.
But even as we acknowledge that Wall Street now waves a hand and turns away remains less of an issue than the fact that it looks like the everyday MAGA is doing the same.
Now, none of us are so stupid as to think that disinterest in reading Trump Social rants suddenly indicates the movement’s implosion. No. Trump is less a politician than an identity to his real followers; giving up on him would mean admitting they were wrong in the first place and somewhat bad people because of it. That won’t happen.
Except, let’s refine that. First, Trump is polling at his worst levels ever- no doubt he is losing support as this column has noted over and over. What won’t happen is a wholesale collapse over a month of the type readers demand and expect. But what might be happening may be every bit as bad long term, at least with respect to his plans to consolidate imperial power, a Sith emperor for life.
Because the lack of urgency in keeping up with his late-night raging rants belies something every bit as lethal as a horrific scandal or bad polling to a politician, especially one who’s been around ten years now and made his mark by “owning the libs,” giggle giggle. It is hard to escape the sense that Trump has exhausted his bag of tricks and the MAGAs, while still proud to wear a red hat, are kinda bored. And that would and very well could cost Trump far more than $231M.
When was the last time he had a rally just for the sake of a rally? Going to an auto plant for a speech in Michigan doesn’t count; that’s normal presidential stuff. It has been forever, and even his planned speech for the 250th Independence Day, something that could possibly go wrong until it disastrously did, belies the boredom. Combine the two and it sure appears that Trump lacks the political sex appeal he once had with them. (Some reds were orgasmic about it. Embarrassing.)
Boredom is utterly devastating for a regular politician. For Trump… Just wow.
Every president has a shelf life before which people just get sick of seeing the same face, hearing the same words, predictable behavior, less power over Congress, all that. For most, it happens right after the midterms of a second term. Trump had an advantage in that his followers were, and some remain, downright rabid- and unvaxed, of course. But he has a major disadvantage in having been around for ten years now with basically one act. At the very least, the banks recognize that the act doesn’t transition to action.
His followers are in a weirder position. At least with respect to the only position that mattered, hating liberals, Trump always meant what he said. The problem is that he used to follow it up by implying he cared about them, his voters.
No more.
Even many of his voters recognize that Trump still hates liberals, but for his own purposes, and those purposes have nothing to do with caring about them, but everything to do with caring for his new cult, the billionaires. (Of course, we know he never actually cared about them; he just made an effort to fake it better.)
Yes, to a certain extent you are reading another “Trump is in major trouble” column. But we genuinely have the goods in impossible-to-ignore numbers this time, and it’s not associated with an impending scandal that never plays out. Truth Social is losing money at a rate that’s actually hard to accomplish, portending two things. The serious money movers aren’t really interested in what he has to say because he always “TACOs,” while the people that used to live and die with each liberal insult aren’t really interested in what he has to say because it’s just now boring and paired with concern only for his new love, those billionaires and his billions. They’ve been left behind.
(Important to note that while the Left is more furious than ever, we, too, are entirely bored with being called enemies and traitors, and all that crap. The only interest to be had in watching his feed. It is tired.)
The polls reflect the exact same dynamic. Though it may seem as though MAGA is as strong as ever, there’s a major difference between 45% approval and 35% – or about where he stands now– and an even bigger difference between 35% and anything even approaching under 30, the point to which he now seems headed. For a guy that dreams of being president for life, he best study his history, because even history’s most ruthless dictators still require a big enough chunk of support to weather everything from a civil war to a criminal investigation revealing teen rape. The 33% or one-third works as a good cut off line.
Last, without that embarrassingly effervescent support, it is even possible that Trump might get bored with it all himself and quit while ahead. Go ahead, scream, “He’s building a ballroom bunker! Hats with 2028! All that, he’s not getting bored and quitting.” True, for sure, but he’s doing it still holding hard to the fantasy that his support remains as strong as ever; he booted out Cornyn!
But imagine three things coming together: One, Democrats take over Congress. Two, the economy nosedives at Truth Social levels. And three, the war continues to go to hell, and his polling drops under 30%. That combo, terribly possible, changes everything.
For those of you saying, “He needs to be president to stay out of prison,” that’s all but laughable now. He needed 2024 to stay out of prison. Now, he can retire whenever. He’ll file a 500-page pardon that will include every crime committed by his grandfather down through him and out to Barron’s child, encompassing the entire U.S. Criminal Code, and then, for good measure, have JD Vance sign a second identical one. Were that not enough, he is likely to be 81 or 82 at the time, and can string out any investigation, prosecution, and appeal through the SCOTUS until his death.
Resignation is not “likely,” but it is possible, especially knowing MAGAs care less and less about what he has to say. And the one thing that sets this column apart from the many others we’ve all read forever is that there is some pretty hard-to-ignore proof in this one that something different is happening; there’s a new feel to all this. Trump, boring people during the greatest reality television series ever? Polls in an inextricable slide amidst an unwinnable war? Congress about to change hands? Come on. This is a bit new and has a bit more bite.
Maybe if he put a little more work into being the exciting entertainer he used to be, a little less work at driving down Truth Social’s losses (that had to take work), he could at least hold steady. The polling is one thing. Absent crashing a 747, it’s very hard to imagine how one loses $231.8 million on less than $2 million in revenue.
He also has a lot more left he can lose, too, and fewer ways to bring it back up.
Jason Miciak is a Raw Story Columnist, former editor at Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent, girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at [email protected]
He only pretended to care about the MAGAs so they would vote for him and attend his rallies.
Apparently, he doesn’t need them anymore.