In an article for CounterPunch titled "Trump’s Casino Royale: The Iran War," Matthew Stevenson wrote:
"Given that Donald Trump conceives of the presidency as a casino—why else would he be trying to makeover the White House to look like the Bellagio?—it makes sense that his administration has turned the war with Iran into an insider-trading scheme."
"It used to be that wars were fought to make 'the world safe for democracy' or 'to end all wars' (a World War I expression), but now wars are fought so that Trump insiders can get rich quick in prediction markets or to help the president’s family (and its remittance men) corner the Persian Gulf oil market."
Pointing out who is profiting off inflating oil prices and creating false scarcity, Stevenson added:
"Make that win-win kaching sound."
The United Kingdom's The Guardian noted:
"Traders placed over $1[billion] in perfectly timed bets on the Iran war. Suspicious wagers on the US-Israel war in Iran are creating huge windfalls..."
Axios reported on the activity in March and members of Congress, like California Democratic Representative Sam Licardo and New York Democrat Ritchie Torres, are asking questions about trades made just before actions taken by the Trump administration or just before announcements made by the POTUS.
Overall, it's a pretty damning indictment. And it's one that MAGA Republican President Donald Trump gave credence to during a recent press gaggle at the White House on Thursday.
Asked about people, including his sons, profiting off predictive markets, Trump responded:
"You know, the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino. And you look at what’s going on all over the world and Europe, and every place they’re doing these betting things."
"I was never much in favor of it. I don’t like it conceptually, but it is what it is now."
You can see his comments here:
Betting is one thing, but having inside information in order to place bets before the rest of the world is considered cheating. A former casino owner should know that.
People weren't surprised by rampant profiteering off Trump's war.
@decentralised82/X
@ComputerPoet/X
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PBS recently outlined ways Trump sons Don Jr. and Eric are profiting off Trump's wars.
Bloomberg Finance reported on Thursday that, in response to mounting pressure both domestically and internationally, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission has opened a probe for signs of insider trading related to Trump's Iran War.
@cashingpropss/X
