Donald Trump’s Truth Social opened to much larger numbers than expected in the stock market last week, but John Oliver still isn’t convinced. On Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight,” the HBO host debunked the platform with a pretty Not Safe for Work comparison.
In his first segment of the night, Oliver clarified that $DJT has essentially become a “meme stock,” and noted that it’s being promoted on social media just like other meme stocks — with actual memes. One meme that particularly amused Oliver was a gif of an eagle-shaped erection.
“Truth Social is kind of like a penis, in that many unhappy men online spend their time falsely boasting about its size, and what it can achieve for you,” he quipped.
Speaking seriously on the topic, Oliver explained that Truth Social really isn’t profitable in execution.
“You should know, the financials for the company are a mess,” he said. “It’s lost $57 million since its start, and won’t disclose user data, even though that’s the key metric for social media companies. It also had to re-submit its financial statements with the SEC after it placed its revenue in the wrong line in an Excel spreadsheet.”
He added that the only reason the stock is doing so well is because “Trump supporters believe buying it is a way to simultaneously own the libs, give Trump money and, they’d argue, make a profit themselves.”
Oliver likened the surge in Truth Social’s stock to that of GameStop and AMC Theaters, but highlighted a crucial difference, at least in the former.
“The GameStop movement was at least partially about wresting financial power away from sh–ty rich individuals, and restoring it to the average person,” Oliver said. “Whereas this movement is about channeling the average person’s money directly to the sh–tiest rich individual there is.”
The most recent episode of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” aired on HBO on Sunday and is available for streaming on Max.
