The Great Trump Hopium

I’ll be the first to admit it: I voted for Donald Trump. I’m a small government guy and a family man and, relatively speaking, Republicans trend better on a few important topics that I care about, such as gun rights, school choice, and protecting the border.

Trump has also famously come out in support of protecting our right to use and store wealth in Bitcoin. He’s even suggested the US government could create a bitcoin stockpile, something that many have since conflated with a strategic reserve.

And for these reasons and others, Bitcoin Twitter is in an absolute craze over his inauguration this week. Michael Saylor called him our first “Bitcoin President” and indicated more bitcoin buys for MicroStrategy (which I think we can assume he’d have done under a Harris administration, too, given his track record).

This exuberance toward Trump seems to me to be a dose of pure, pharmaceutical-grade hopium.

First off, it is positively clear that Trump does not understand Bitcoin or its significance. I attended his meandering, aimless speech in Nashville at The Bitcoin Conference 2024 where he mentioned the bitcoin “stockpile” (again, not “reserve”) and reiterated his commitment to strengthening the US dollar.

And now in the last week, these Bitcoiners that have been fawning over Trump, purely in hopes that he pumps their bags, are excusing his Trump memecoin project built on the notorious Solana shitcoin.

Let me fill you in: a “Bitcoin President” wouldn’t be shilling a shitcoin.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Trump presidency does great things for Bitcoin’s dollar-denominated exchange rate. Hell, just leaving Bitcoiners alone to build in peace for four more years would be great.

But to imagine that somehow he’s a Bitcoin savior and we should be exalting him as a “Bitcoin President” is pure silliness.

The problem is that people have a tendency to go all in on tribalism. Then when their chief sells them out or drops the ball, they have to make excuses for why their loyalty wasn’t misplaced or misguided.

I think my policy of “cautious optimism” seems more and more reasonable with each passing day. When Trump does something stupid, like launch a memecoin, I can call a spade a spade because I don’t feel in any way beholden to him or to his tribe.

Finally, it’s worth noting that no institution has proven more incompetent or corrupt over the last 75 years than the US Federal government. With that in mind, I’d caution anyone excited about a Bitcoin strategic reserve being adopted by the United States.

Could it make you wealthy if you hold bitcoin? Sure. But could it continue to enable the forever wars, prolong government corruption, and aid the Statists in achieving their dystopian fantasies? Absolutely.

There are no solutions in life, only tradeoffs. Seeing my net worth skyrocket at the expense of individual liberty and a peaceful revolution seems to me a shallow victory.

Only time will tell, but do yourself a favor and wean off the hopium. I think we’ll all be better for it.

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