The options affair hides another potential scandal, less visible but just as troubling. That famous 9 April post at 9:37am on Truth Social could be read a second way.
THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT
Three letters. One sentence. One shock.
“DJT” isn’t just the president’s initials. It is also the stock ticker of his own company: Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. And the effects of that one post were immediate:
At first glance, no law bars a president from publicly promoting an asset he owns. But in practice, the question of market manipulation, or of fiduciary duty clashing with a conflict of interest, remains largely unsettled for a head of state, at least in the US. Especially now that Elon Musk prowls the corridors of power, close to every regulator of his businesses, and Donald Trump settles scores with everyone who didn’t go his way.
The “BUY DJT” message then takes on a dizzying dimension: no longer a mere populist punchline, but potentially a cash machine for those who can read between the lines. Some saw it as an instruction to buy his stock. Others, as a coded signal of an imminent macro surprise. The more conspiracy-minded might even see it as a way to kill off any insider trading accusation… since the information was public.
In the 2025 economy, words are trades. A president who owns a listed company can literally pump its share price by tweet.
This is no longer just abuse of power. It’s a business model.
In a normal context, if it came from an ordinary CEO, this kind of post would be treated as attempted price manipulation. But here, only the office of president seems to shield him from the usual regulatory framework of the SEC and FINRA. An SEC now chaired by Paul Atkins, picked by… Donald Trump.
The DJT affair isn’t just a stock manipulation scandal. It is a crash test for democracy: how far can a public figure go once the borders between politics, finance and media have completely dissolved?
Several lawmakers asked the SEC to determine whether this message could amount to an illegal “pump” of a stock held by a public official. This adds to the suspicions already hanging over the options trades ahead of the tariff announcement.
Trump didn’t shout “Buy the dip”. He said: Buy Me.