Media

On Monday morning's edition of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski questioned the value assigned to Donald Trump's Truth Social following a merger that was put to bed last Friday.

Noting the meager traffic the social media platform has drawn from users in its three years of existence, the hosts, along with MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire, were highly skeptical of its valuation north of $3 billion.

Scarborough kicked off the questioning by cutting to the chase and saying the publicly traded stock has the makings of being part of a scam that will leave some new investors holding the bag while Trump walks away with their cash.

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"I'm not exactly sure how his Truth Social deal is going the way it is, but it looks like a Ponzi scheme to me," Scarborough began. "But I don't understand it. This is, though, a social media network that doesn't appear to be successful. Yet people are throwing around $5 billion here, $5 billion there. Does that provide Donald Trump an economic lifeline in the short term?"

"You're right about Truth Social," Lemire agreed. "It is a website that, frankly, no one uses. It has very little traction outside of the extreme MAGA right. It is where Trump continues to post since he was kicked off of Twitter after January 6th. I believe he's only posted one thing [on Twitter] since, which was his mugshot when he was indicted in Georgia last summer."

"He's still trying to drive interest to Truth Social," he continued. "It's not really working; there have been, you know, merger deals rumored for a couple of years now. It all fell apart."

"Where does this massive valuation come from?" Scarborough interjected.

"In a free and open and fair market, I mean, if you're just talking about economic considerations, who would invest in this company unless you were trying to curry favor with somebody who you think will be the next president of the United States," he added.

Lemire replied, "You hit it there. Someone trying to curry favor with who they believe will be the next president of the United States. We've seen people do that of late. With Truth Social, it is not a success by any measure."

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Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy expressed doubt about Kate Middleton's cancer because she still has "luscious" hair.

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With the merger between Digital World Acquisition Corp. and the Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Donald Trump's Truth Social, completed on Friday, one Pulitzer Prize-winning business columnist suggested there are several red flags investors should consider before taking a leap of faith into another Trump venture.

In a piece for the LA Times, noted business columnist Michael Hiltzik wrote that there is a better than even chance that the cash-strapped Trump will be given a waiver to sell off a substantial portion of the reported $3 billion in stock he now controls by a board of handpicked Trump loyalists.

Moments after Digital World Acquisition Corporation voted to merge with Trump Media, the parent company for Donald Trump's Truth Social platform, its stock took a quick drop — losing 12 percent of its value at one point.

According to a report from CNBC, stock for the company which will be listed as DJT starting next week, began the day at $44.20 before taking a quick nosedive to below $38, before a bounceback to 3.5 percent below opening.