Former Republican President Donald Trump may have hoodwinked his followers into believing in his claims about his legendary business acumen.
But the business community itself isn't buying it--including the soon-to-be parent company of his social media platform Truth Social.
Digital World Acquisition Corp, the so-called "blank-check" firm merging with Trump Media and Technology Group, warned investors of Trump's laundry list of bankruptcies and business failures in a recent regulatory filing.
And it didn't stop there--the filing also warned that since Trump will be the CEO of the new company, it may well fail too.
Oops.
The filing practically reads like a greatest-hits list of Trump's business failures, including casino and hotel properties Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza, and Trump Castle, as well as Trump University, Trump Vodka, and Trump Steaks.
And given Trump's forthcoming role as chairman and ownership of up to 58% of the new company if the merger is approved, Digital World was forced to protect itself from legal repercussions should his failure catch to Trump Media as well.
The filing reads:
"A number of companies that were associated with President Trump have filed for bankruptcy."
"There can be no assurances that TMTG will not also become bankrupt."
The filing went on to add that many of Trump's licensing agreements have also gone belly up.
"A number of companies that had license agreements with President Trump have failed."
"There can be no assurances that TMTG will not also fail."
And just in case it wasn't absolutely crystal-clear that Trump Media and Truth Social are more likely to faceplant than they are to thrive, Digital World added:
"While all of the foregoing were in different businesses than TMTG, there can be no guarantee that TMTG's performance will exceed the performance of those entities."
Given Truth Social's disastrous roll-out so far, betting against it is probably the safer investment.
And on Twitter, there was plenty of schadenfreude about its odds being so bad the company had to put them on the record.
While others pointed out that the filing indicates Truth Social is nothing more than another Trump grift--especially given the filing's multiple warnings that Trump doing anything "illegal, immoral, or unethical" will not void the deal in question.
Truth Social already faces an uphill battle with its primary competition--Trump's Twitter account, which prospective new Twitter owner Elon Musk recently said he will reinstate once his ownership is official, an offer Trump surely won't have the restraint to refuse.
