Jul 7, 2026
Donald Trump and his family generated at least $2.2 billion in income last year, which is nearly four times more than he reported in 2024. Much of that money came from his supporters who invested in his businesses, such as Trump Media and Technology Group, or bought his $TRUMP meme coin.
Their fortunes, however, didn’t fare nearly as well. In fact, Trump’s supporters are reportedly down an estimated $7 billion after investing in the president’s business ventures.
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Trump Media shares have lost 56% of their value in the past year, while the Trump coin’s value also tumbled about 81% in that time. Many of the retail investors who sunk their savings into those ventures — often as a sign of loyalty to Trump — have seen the money vanish right as economic volatility began to spike. And they’re not happy with Trump, or the members of his inner circle.
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“We’re just poor cattle to them,” Chad Nedohin, who was once the unofficial captain of Trump Media’s shareholders, told Forbes. “He doesn’t care about anyone.”
Core MAGA to poor MAGA
Nedohin is one of many investors who are vocally criticizing Trump and his ventures. Another, Vadim Fistikan, invested $205,000 in Trump Media in the days, weeks and months after it went public via SPAC. He invested the money he and his family had planned to use to buy a waterfront property in Florida.
Today, that investment is worth just $30,000. When he voiced his frustrations on Truth Social, Fistikan (a three-time Trump voter) was lambasted by Trump supporters on the social media site.
“I’m like, ‘Hey, this is a scam,’” he posted, according to Forbes. “And a lot of people were like, ‘No, you’re just a Trump hater.’ I’m like, ‘No. I was on board since day one. … I’m now broke. Pretty much my whole life savings [was] in this one stock. This is the greatest theft, con job he has ever done.”
Nick Pinto didn’t invest in Trump Media, but when he saw Trump had launched a meme coin in January 2025, he quickly invested $7,000. He later upped that investment to $480,000 so that he could gain entry to a dinner at Trump’s Virginia club.
A friend later convinced him to sell most of his position in the Trump coin, but Pinto still suffered losses of $250,000.
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“This is something that the Trump family kind of came up with out of the blue,” Pinto told Forbes, referring to the advice that his friend, a fellow Trump investor, shared with him. “And there’s not really a way for us to predict the future of the coin or what their plans for it are.”
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New ventures
While the meme coin and Trump Media stock languish (and some investors have trouble finding buyers for their tokens or shares), the Trump family is investing in new ventures.
World Liberty Financial is another cryptocurrency fund which earned Trump $799 million last year, in part from when the government of the United Arab Emirates quietly purchased a stake in the company.
It also has released the $WLFI coin, of which the Trump family received a 75% cut of all sales of that cryptocurrency. Investors? They didn't do so well: $WLFI is down 74% in the past year and currently trades for just six cents per coin.
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Chris Morris is a veteran journalist with more than 35 years of experience at many of the internet's biggest news outlets. In addition to his activities as a writer, reporter and editor, Chris is also a frequent panel moderator and speaker at major conferences, including CES and South by Southwest.
