On the eve of his second inauguration, Donald Trump launched his own meme coin, the perfectly named $TRUMP. Let’s leave aside the fact that many of Trump’s most committed and gullible followers are about to lose huge sums of money, if they haven’t already. Look instead at Trump’s announcement of the coin on social media, which is something of a skeleton key to Trumpian ideology and its sources of appeal.
My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to https://t.co/GX3ZxT5xyq — Have Fun! pic.twitter.com/flIKYyfBrC
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2025
Here we see three of Trumpism’s main offers, neatly summarized in a single Trump post. First is “WINNING!,” with the requisite capitalization and punctuation, reminiscent of tiger blood–era Charlie Sheen. Second is membership in a “very special Trump Community.” Third is the paternal injunction to “Have Fun!”
There are two aspects to the Trumpian conception of “winning.” There’s the general sense that being born in America (to the right kind of parents, of course) entitles you to always come out on top in everything you do and to do whatever you want without any negative consequences. That birthright, in turn, has to be protected from anyone who threatens to take it away.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s white nationalist deputy chief of staff, took the stage at the president’s preinauguration victory rally to make who that is abundantly clear: “It’s going to mean an executive order ending the border invasion, sending the illegals home and taking America back. . . . It’s going to mean the eradication of the criminal cartels and the foreign gangs who are preying on our people. And it’s going to mean justice for every American citizen who has lost a loved one to illegal aliens.”
It’s also going to mean an attack on transgender…
Auteur: Chris Maisano
