I'm waiting eagerly for the conspiracy theory that the IPO is really just a massive campaign contribution from the RUSSIANS RUSSIANS RUSSIANS for Trump.

Not the IPO (or rather, the SPAC merger - there technically was no IPO). It's been in the works for years.

The real issue will be what happens going forward if Trump wins election. From past experience, we know he's not going to divest himself from this company. Which means that anyone who advertises on Truth Social will be providing earnings for Trump. Unlike his hotel and tourist properties, though, the gross margins on media buys are far, far higher than for hospitality. And since virtually every entity - from corporations to foundations to countries - buys some ads somewhere, it's very very easy to just order an ad buy from Truth Social.

So if you wanted to put $100 into Trump's pocket, you'd probably only have to buy about $180 worth of ads on Truth - whether they're ever seen by anyone or not.

Which is why it's actually not crazy for people to be bidding up the price of the shares (though there's probably a lot of meme stock puff in there). It's a bet on DJT getting re-elected, and folks wanting to get into his good graces by using his company for advertising services.