Melania Trump 2: She's Just As Bad As Her Husband

[Cartmann99]

I suggest putting aside your snacks and tasty beverages before reading this shocking news about Melania.

Spoiler

Melania gets huffy about the media exposing her grift:

Spoiler

 

Finally, the calls are coming from inside the house! 🙀

Analyzing the Very Bizarre Sale of Melania Trump’s $170,000 NFT

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The $170,000 purchase of an NFT collection auctioned by Melania Trump was made by the entity that originally put the NFT up for sale, according to blockchain records. 

The former first lady got into NFTs last year, launching her own website and lining up a slate of auctions. On Jan. 11, Trump started auctioning the "Head of State Collection, 2022" on the Solana blockchain, a package deal that paired the "iconic white millinery masterpiece worn by Mrs. Trump" (a wide-brimmed hat she wore during a 2018 visit with French President Emanuel Macron) with a watercolor of her wearing it, as well as an NFT. The opening bid, according to a press release, was "the equivalent of $250,000" denominated in SOL tokens (1,800 SOL at the time) and a "portion" of the proceeds would be used to "provide foster care children with access to computer science and technology education."

After the auction's conclusion, the New York Times ran a piece describing the sale as attracting a few bids all around 1,800 SOL, ultimately ending with somebody purchasing the NFT for 1,800 SOL worth $170,000 at the time (now $200,000), a price far below the figure touted by the auction's press release and which the paper described as "deflated results" due to a wider crash in the price of cryptocurrencies. 

Now, according to Solana blockchain records reviewed by Motherboard and shared with an independent researcher, we know who bought the NFT collection: Melania Trump herself, or at least, whoever set up the auction for her. In a statement to Motherboard from "the Office of Melania Trump," Trump said "the nature of Blockchain protocol is entirely transparent. Accordingly, the public can view each transaction on the blockchain. The transaction was facilitated on behalf of a third-party buyer." 

Despite the transparent nature of the blockchain, however, Trump's office would not elaborate on who actually bought the NFT or the details around why the transaction was set up so that the creator of the NFT provided the crypto to the auction winner, and seemingly got the funds back. 

Given that the cryptocurrency for the purchase was provided by the NFT creator, and sent back to an address associated with the NFT creator, the only realistic option (assuming the mystery buyer story is true) is that the buyer does not use cryptocurrency and sent Trump's camp dollars to complete the entire transaction with, which it did on their behalf. "Not impossible," zachxbt said in a message, "but a weird request."

But this doesn't explain the bizarre chain of transactions and multiple wallets, including Address X (which zachxbt referred to as "3CTu"), which ultimately received the funds, or why the winning bid of a public crypto auction was facilitated by the creators of the auction and turned out to be the exact minimum amount. 

 "Why was 3CTu needed? Why would [the auction winner] send the exact amount for a winning bid? Why was the money sent back to 3CTu? All my unanswered questions…" zachxbt wrote. 

Public blockchains like Solana (and Bitcoin and Ethereum) have the benefit of allowing anybody in the world to follow the money, since every transaction is tied to an address and records are permanent. According to Trump's NFT website, the auction winner had the address "497Zu5gfWSv4VNsoQfjixWXQZmKZ2pDzkVSASDBqnFL2." Without getting too bogged down in eye-glazing detail (that will come later), it went like this: The auction winner's address was funded with 1,800 SOL on January 25, which came from an address (let's call it Address X) that was itself funded by the address that created Melania's NFT. After the auction, the NFT creator address sent 180,000 SOL back to Address X which converted it into USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar. 

In other words, the winner of Melania Trump's NFT got the money from none other than the creator of the NFT itself, and an address linked to the NFT creator got the money back. 

Motherboard shared the blockchain records with pseudonymous independent blockchain sleuth zachxbt, who shared the following analysis confirming that the crypto for the winning bid was provided by the NFT creator: 

If we visit Solscan.io (a Solana Blockchain Explorer) we see Melania Trump’s Head of State Collection, 2022 NFT was created on 01/11/2022 by 39ui using Metaplex.

01/23/2022 - 39ui sends 473,657.64 USDC to 3CTu.

01/25/2022 - 3CTu swaps 166,900 USDC for 1,816.08 SOL using Raydium (Solana decentralized exchange). A few minutes later 3CTu sends 1,799.5 SOL to 497Z.

01/26/2022 - 497Z makes a bid on the NFT for 1,800 SOL and wins the auction.

Later that day the NFT creator 39ui claims the 1,800 SOL and sends it back to 3CTu.

01/29/2022 - 3CTu swaps 1,800 SOL for 168,313.24 USDC using Raydium.

As of 02/08/2022 all of the USDC sits in 3CTu’s account and the NFT in 497Z’s account.

Given that the cryptocurrency for the purchase was provided by the NFT creator, and sent back to an address associated with the NFT creator, the only realistic option (assuming the mystery buyer story is true) is that the buyer does not use cryptocurrency and sent Trump's camp dollars to complete the entire transaction with, which it did on their behalf. "Not impossible," zachxbt said in a message, "but a weird request."

But this doesn't explain the bizarre chain of transactions and multiple wallets, including Address X (which zachxbt referred to as "3CTu"), which ultimately received the funds, or why the winning bid of a public crypto auction was facilitated by the creators of the auction and turned out to be the exact minimum amount. 

 "Why was 3CTu needed? Why would [the auction winner] send the exact amount for a winning bid? Why was the money sent back to 3CTu? All my unanswered questions…" zachxbt wrote. 

One of the few plausible scenarios, if what Trump's camp is saying is true, is that the NFT project went through the trouble of facilitating a buyer not using crypto—instead of anyone bidding SOL through the auction website—because crypto was crashing and the bids, all around 1,800 SOL, no longer came close to the stated minimum of $250,000 USD. Perhaps the buyer was willing to pay $250,000 in dollars (or more), and Trump's NFT project effectively made them the winner, converting a portion of it into SOL to win the auction. It's worth noting that the "3CTu" address holds over $400,000 worth of USDC tokens, which it converted a portion of into SOL to use in the auction, and back into USDC. However, even in this scenario it's not clear why this middle wallet was needed, versus the NFT creator address sending the funds straight to the winner and back again. 

The Office of Melania Trump did not respond to follow-up questions regarding the identity of the alleged mystery buyer, how the transaction was conducted, if it was conducted in USD, and how much USD the buyer ultimately paid.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Cartmann99
techinical difficulties

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

21 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I suggest putting aside your snacks and tasty beverages before reading this shocking news about Melania.

  Hide contents

Melania gets huffy about the media exposing her grift:

  Hide contents

 

Finally, the calls are coming from inside the house! 🙀

Analyzing the Very Bizarre Sale of Melania Trump’s $170,000 NFT

 

 

Thank you, @Cartmann99, for this post. Every time her stupid “Be Best” campaign comes up, I can’t help but think that there were people on staff who really hated her enough to let her go out publicly with that nonsense. (The Christmas dreckoration fiascos bolster my belief that she was really loathed by her staff.) How embarrassing that not only did her auctions flop but apparently she or someone close to her had to buy that ridiculous “portrait” - at the “reduced” price no less! Thanks to her former FLOTUS status, everything she does is under far closer scrutiny than when she was just the wife of a reality tv star. I keep saying it- the worst thing to happen to most of that family was Trump being elected POTUS. Of all of them, it knocked Melania hardest. And I have no sympathy for her. 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Howl]

Ima put my air quotes to work:  

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Florida’s charity regulator says an event featuring MELANIA TRUMP was canceled because "organizers" failed to register as "fundraisers" & that ticket $ will go to a foster children charity.

  This is probably the best scenario for the money actually going to benefit children in need. 

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But Melania says the "event" is not being canceled; only "rescheduled". 

 Mel is getting a little anxious that those bucks will slip through her hands. Hopefully, Florida's charity regulator has already scooped up the money and disbursed it for its stated cause. 

[Cartmann99]

Here she goes again...

Spoiler

"The STRONG NFT is inspired by the many roles that the First Lady must navigate. While the position does not have a traditional job description, it does take a strong woman to adjust to the demands — including taking care of her family, the President, and the Nation."

I'm reading this as Melania admitting that she doesn't think of Trump as a member of her family.

Spoiler

I also want to point out this:

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You can't pick which NFT you get if you only want one, and if you try to buy all three, there's no guarantee you'll wind up with three different ones?

I'm definitely not the intended audience for this nonsense.

[onekidanddone]

57 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Here she goes again...

  Reveal hidden contents

"The STRONG NFT is inspired by the many roles that the First Lady must navigate. While the position does not have a traditional job description, it does take a strong woman to adjust to the demands — including taking care of her family, the President, and the Nation."

I'm reading this as Melania admitting that she doesn't think of Trump as a member of her family.

  Reveal hidden contents

I also want to point out this:

  Hide contents

You can't pick which NFT you get if you only want one, and if you try to buy all three, there's no guarantee you'll wind up with three different ones?

I'm definitely not the intended audience for this nonsense.

Can I get one of her in the ‘I don’t care, do you’?

[Howl]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

You can't pick which NFT you get if you only want one, and if you try to buy all three, there's no guarantee you'll wind up with three different ones?

Aren't they all three the same?  I don't recall Melania changing her expression the entire time she was 1st Lady.

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

When Henry XIII was wife-hunting, he was shown a portrait of Anne of Cleves. He was instantly smitten. When he met her in person, however, he was angry and claimed he had been duped, as the woman before him was (in his opinion) not nearly as charming as represented in her portrait. Some historians have theorized the artist had himself been taken with Anne which led him to paint her as he saw her in his romanticized view rather than as she was in real life. 
 

Clearly the artist creating the NFTs of Mrs. Trump Take Three is a descendant of the artist who painted Anne of Cleves’ portrait. Or the artist was high on some seriously good stuff while creating the NFTs. Squinty McPinchface hasn’t looked this good since she started playing “Operation”. 

[Becky]

8 hours ago, AlmostSavedAtTacoBell said:

When Henry XIII was wife-hunting, he was shown a portrait of Anne of Cleves. He was instantly smitten. When he met her in person, however, he was angry and claimed he had been duped, as the woman before him was (in his opinion) not nearly as charming as represented in her portrait. Some historians have theorized the artist had himself been taken with Anne which led him to paint her as he saw her in his romanticized view rather than as she was in real life. 
 

Clearly the artist creating the NFTs of Mrs. Trump Take Three is a descendant of the artist who painted Anne of Cleves’ portrait. Or the artist was high on some seriously good stuff while creating the NFTs. Squinty McPinchface hasn’t looked this good since she started playing “Operation”. 

I love you for "Squinty McPinchface!"  🤣

[thoughtful]

16 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Can I get one of her in the ‘I don’t care, do you’?

Don't waste your money - there are cheaper ways to make a dart board.

[Cartmann99]

 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

36 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

Bullshit. She would’ve shown up to be on the cover of “Windshield Wipers Weekly” if she had been asked. 

[Cartmann99]

Spoiler

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I am no fan of Melania, but I have to say that I'd probably do the same thing. Difference being that I'm sure her lingerie costs at least 10x more than mine.

 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I am no fan of Melania, but I have to say that I'd probably do the same thing. Difference being that I'm sure her lingerie costs at least 10x more than mine.

 

For some reason I can't explain, this makes me laugh.  The idea that the woman allowed Trump to have sex with her but is grossed out by feds touching her underwear is ridiculously funny to me.  And knowing she probably spent a fortune on new underwear also amuses me because they really should be watching their pennies these days. 

[fraurosena]

If it’s true (and I’m not sure about that— it could be a made up sob story in the woe-is-me vein Trump loves so much, just like the story milling around about Barron’s bedroom being searched) then why not simply wash your undies, or at least get some (probably undocumented immigrant) servant to do it for you?

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

Nope, I wouldn't spend a penny on this crap:

 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Nope, I wouldn't spend a penny on this crap:

 

You would think she would want that embarrassment to fade away and be forgotten.  I still think some staff member(s) completely trolled her by telling her it was a great campaign idea and slogan.  

[Audrey2]

I do have a fantasy that Trump gets arrested and goes to trial and Melania shows up in that "I don't care do you?" coat that she wore to the border.

[GreyhoundFan]

Oh boy, it's not just the one ugly ornament, there are five others. I guess .00001% going to charity is a portion.

 

[Becky]

16 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Oh boy, it's not just the one ugly ornament, there are five others. I guess .00001% going to charity is a portion.

 

OK, so I tried to look up what, exactly, Be Best is currently achieving.  The former First Lady's own website says they are giving out scholarships to foster kids through a fund called Fostering the Future.  I looked up Fostering the Future on Charity Navigator, and here is what I found - cannot be evaluated for Finance and Accountability because they file an IRS form permitted when the charity has less than $50,000 in revenue. Also "cannot be evaluated" for Impact & Results.  So yeah, not a lot of the dough being sent by the rubes is going anywhere other than the Trump's pockets. 

I also found a press release from Melania indicating Fostering the Future funds would be directed through the Bradley Impact Fund, which turns out to be a "Donor Advised Fund for Conservatives" based in Milwaukee - - the website is full of American Exceptionalism, Constitutional Fidelity, blah blah blah. 

Edited September 19, 2022 by Becky

[GreyhoundFan]

[47of74]

She was worried he'd see her without makeup on.

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Melania Trump worried that Rudy Giuliani would walk in on her wearing only a robe, a transcript of the testimony by her former chief of staff this year has revealed.

Stephanie Grisham told the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 riot earlier this year that the former first lady was worried that the then-president, Donald Trump was getting “bad advice” in his final months in the White House and was concerned about unannounced visitors like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

According to the transcripts released on Thursday, Ms Trump grew “very upset” when unannounced visitors entered the White House’s residential areas without warning.

“And she was very upset because nobody would give her a heads-up and she was walking around in a robe, that type of thing. But she never gave me specific names other than Sidney Powell, Giuliani and campaign people. Those were her words.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

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