Six months ago and under the gun for roughly half a billion dollars in legal expenses, Donald Trump took on a flurry of bizarre get-rich-quick schemes to raise some capital. They included a line of NFTs featuring cartoonish images of himself dressed up as superhero characters; a line of gold, high-top sneakers that retailed for $399 a pop; and, bizarrely, his own Bible series.
Trump pitched his God Bless the USA Bible alongside singer Lee Greenwood, the man who popularized the song it’s named after. The selling point boiled down to a callback to Trump’s campaign: “We must make America pray again.”
“Yes, this is the only Bible endorsed by President Trump!” the site advertised.
And while it’s unclear if the Trump-endorsed, $60 religious text actually made more people pray, it certainly did help line the convicted felon’s pockets. According to Trump’s latest financial disclosure, that far-flung idea actually brought in $300,000 in royalties. Those numbers could have been bolstered by an even pricier signed version, which retailed for $1,000.
It wasn’t the only book that Trump made some cash off of. His book Letters to Trump, which featured a letter from former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown—who disputed Trump’s claim that the two had shared a near-death experience in a helicopter together—raked in $4.5 million. One of his more recents books, A MAGA Journey, netted $505,763, while Trump’s bestseller, The Art of the Deal, managed to bring in between $50,000 and $100,000 in royalties.
But Trump’s other weird money streams also helped bring in some quick cash. The disclosure listed $7.15 million coming from a source labeled NFT INT., likely referring to his NFT series. And, despite having previously labeled cryptocurrency as a scam, the former president notably kept a stockpile of cash in the new-wave currencies, with the disclosure listing roughly $5 million in crypto.
Trump listed his social media platform, Truth Social, at more than $50 million. Trump owns nearly 65 percent of Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group. The company’s stock value has plummeted in recent days.
Still, the disclosure couldn’t offset Trump’s legal reality: It lists more than $100 million for bonds related to three of his legal trials in New York.
Source Agencies
