On MS NOW's On The Line, Angelo Carusone discusses Trump Media selling early access to the president's posts: “Every other part of the MAGA right-wing media, they're not touching this with a 10-foot pole. But Nick Fuentes and his people are.”
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From the August 3, 2026, edition of MS NOW's On the Line
ALICIA MENENDEZ (HOST): Angelo, Trump Media says customers have already started signing up. That is amazing at a $100,000 per month a pop. How big of a deal is this?
ANGELO CARUSONE (MEDIA MATTERS): It's huge a — in terms of corruption, it's a big deal, and we shouldn't discount the fact that it's a really big deal. Because keep in mind, you described it in your intro. You said move markets. That isn't just your description. That's literally them from their marketing materials.
I mean, they acknowledge that the posts themselves move markets. They have financial effect, and what they're offering here is speed. Right? I mean, they acknowledge that it's about making sure that people get this fast. So if you run a big firm and you have ETFs as electronic transfers, milliseconds matter, and that's what they're doing here.
They're basically taking what are typically presidential communications, and they're actively turning them into a commodity. And that's you know, it seems like not a big deal because we're talking about milliseconds. But in terms of this larger landscape of corruption, yeah, it's a really significant deal, especially if it goes unaccounted for.
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MENENDEZ: Angelo, you are always about 10 steps ahead of me. So if we have a flying emolument, we've got insider trading that has been legitimized by the president of the United States. What comes next?
CARUSONE: For him or for the larger landscape? Because for the larger landscape —
MENENDEZ: Whichever you think is is more important.
CARUSONE: I'm sure they will come out — look. He used to sell products. Right? He put his name on products, selling the name. Now, he is actively finding ways to sell the presidency. So, I'm sure they'll come up with new ways to do that, and this won't be the end of it.
In terms of the larger landscape, the one thing that I think is a tell is that we see the most kinetic energy energizing part of his — what used to be his base right now are the groypers or the Nick Fuentes part of the wing, the Tucker Carlson parts of the wing. They're already on top of this. Every other part of the MAGA right-wing media, they're not touching this with a 10-foot pole. But Nick Fuentes and his people are.
Why? Because at their core, you know, we talk about the law, and then there's this larger shadow of the corruption. That is an animating and motivating force. Authoritarian regimes always have corruption — that rot spreads, and it's an organizing thing. You get a visceral response.
So this is actually going to feed the beast of what used to be his base to build and organize new power in whatever the ruins are after this. I think what comes after it is worse, but we shouldn't ignore that the Nick Fuentes and the groypers are activating around this in a big way.