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When God Almighty says to invest in Trump

Trump Media's small-time investors are seeing its plunging stock price as a test of faith: "I know good and well it’s in Trump’s hands, and he’s got plans."

Drew Harwell

Apr 15, 2024 — 1 min read

Former president Donald Trump and his wife Melania tour the Sistine Chapel in 2017. (White House)

I spent lots of time making cold calls, scrolling Truth Social and interviewing small-time investors for a story on why they've poured their money into Trump's social media company – and how they feel now that it's crashing to earth:

McLain, the tree service owner in Oklahoma, said he believes the stock could “go to $1,000 a share, easy,” once the media stops writing so negatively about it and the company works through its growing pains. The company’s leaders, he said, are being “too silent right now” amid questions about the falling share price, but he suspects it’s because they’re working on something amazing and new.

McLain is an amateur trader — he invested only once before and “lost [his] butt” — and said he hasn’t talked to his family about his investment, saying, “You know how that is.” But he believes the Trump Media deal is a sign he is “supposed to invest,” he said.

“This isn’t just another stock to me. … I feel like it was God Almighty that put it in my lap,” he said. “I’ve just got to hold on and let them do their job. If you go on emotion, you’ll get out of this thing the first time it goes down.”