Your Pension May Be Fuelling Trump’s Hate Machine

Don’t be surprised if your pension is being forced to invest in Truth Social, Donald Trump’s piggy bank and a platform that spews venom about Canada.

Here’s how to find out. And fight back.

When Trump Media (DJT — Truth Social’s parent company) joined the Russell 3000 and 1000 indexes in June of last year, many Canadian pension funds that use passive, index investment strategies automatically became invested in this propaganda platform attacking Canada as weak and suggesting it should become the 51st U.S. state.

FTSE Russell’s indexes supposedly represent a broad swath of successful companies, but DJT lost $400 million while generating less than $4 million in revenue. In contrast, Reddit had a similar valuation at its IPO, yet generated $804 million in revenue last year — 160 times more than DJT's annual revenue. DJT's own auditor warned its “operating losses raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

Translation: “This company might go bankrupt.” Now, if it goes bankrupt, Canadian pensions will be left holding the bag.

Let’s look at your Truth Social investment’s leadership.

Trump's son sits on the board. So does David Bernhardt, Trump's former secretary of the interior, who opened the Boundary Waters to copper mining for Jared Kushner's landlord. Another director, Robert Lighthizer, negotiated the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement as Trump's trade representative. A lot of good that did Canada negotiating with Trump in good faith.

And then there is director W. Kyle Green, a personal lawyer to a major Trump donor. Green may have represented a company in a transaction with DJT. If so, that's a textbook conflict of interest that would not withstand legitimate governance review.

DJT matched the approximate revenue of an average McDonald’s franchise, yet paid its CEO $47.6 million, 13 times DJT’s revenue. That CEO? Devin Nunes, the Trump bootlicker and former House representative. In Congress, Nunes was boss of yet another of DJT’s directors, Kash Patel. He failed to disclose his ownership shares in DJT before his confirmation hearing to become Trump’s FBI director.

For every dollar this crack management team brought in, they lost 100.

Your investment facilitates attacks on Canada

Truth Social isn't just financially toxic. It's a megaphone for anti-Canadian hatred. It platforms Trump’s taunts. His followers then amplify these attacks, spreading conspiracy theories about Canadian weakness and calling for annexation. Spineless Republicans in Congress then allow Trump to make hostile policies, starting at tariffs but who knows what next?

The Toronto Star called Trump a "bully" for the wild threats he spreads through Truth Social.

Environmental, social, and governance investing was supposed to filter out exactly this kind of company. Environmental disasters, social harm through hate speech, governance failures with conflicted boards. Trump Media fails every test.

Yet here we are, with Canadians involuntarily invested in attacks on their sovereignty.

Canadians have big leverage

Fortunately, Trump made himself vulnerable to leverage by the northern neighbour he scorns.

Canada's pension funds control massive capital flows. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board manages over $600 billion, and Canada’s combined institutional investors wield significant influence in the markets.

Canada should demand that any index provider or institutional investor seeking Canadian pension business must exclude DJT from their holdings. These institutional investors will respond if it impacts their bottom line. Make them choose between Canadian billions or Trump's propaganda platform. These institutional investors have to hear from you.

The real problem is FTSE Russell. They failed to muster the backbone to prevent Trump from manipulating their system, and now Canadian pension savers are holding the bag. Canadians would be within their rights to boycott the Russell indexes until FTSE addresses this.

And there is another big lever in the hands of Canadians to use against Trump.

It results from a beautiful irony. Trump Media depends entirely on Toronto-based Rumble for its cloud infrastructure. Every Truth Social post, every piece of data, runs through Canadian servers. Truth Social’s ad platform, a major revenue source, operates through this Canadian company.

Canada has legal frameworks governing online content and hate speech.

One regulatory challenge, one judicial ruling or one change in Canadian law regarding data sovereignty, platform liability or hate speech could force Rumble to drop Truth Social.

Without Rumble, Trump Media goes dark. The entire operation collapses.

We’re in a fight against authoritarian corruption

Who am I to offer this advice? I am a former official in the U.S. State Department who has lived in and opposed Russian authoritarianism since the 1990s. Now I am based in Virginia. And my country has an eerie Russia 1994 feeling to it.

My non-profit, Dekleptocracy, is organizing American blue states to use our anti-corruption laws against Trump's policies and network. Being an asshole should carry consequences.

What I have suggested in this article (my second for The Tyee) is just one way Canadians can join that fight. Learn more about us and follow us on Substack.

Let’s forge an alliance to make Trump rue the day he called Canada the 51st state.