300 undisclosed stock purchases
Trump's investment accounts made 300 previously undisclosed stock purchases one day before he announced the pause on Liberation Day tariffs.
Snapshot · The Bulwark Podcast
Bill Kristol: Trump Wants All-out Kleptocracy
Explore episode
Jul 6, 2026
Where this was said
Introduction & Trump's July 4th Spectacle
At 4:00 · chapter starts 1:05
Tim Miller opens with his characteristic irreverence, confessing he skipped watching Trump's July 4th address entirely — choosing instead to watch fireworks from a hospital parking garage roof with his daughter. Bill Kristol had watched it briefly with Sam Stein but largely tuned out too, opting for World Cup games and a neighborhood gathering featuring red, white, and blue popsicles. Both agree that Trump's attempt to co-opt the nation's 250th anniversary as a personal spectacle largely fell flat — Kristol estimates 98% of Americans were simply living their lives. The episode proper begins with Miller pivoting to the morning's news: Trump was in the Oval Office ringing the opening bell for the NASDAQ and Dow, announcing 'Trump accounts,' and urging Americans to buy Dell stock — a company Trump is personally invested in and whose founder Michael Dell had just contributed to the accounts.
Dell stock surged after Trump plug
Dell's stock surged after Trump urged Americans from the Oval Office to buy Dell stock, where Michael Dell had contributed to the Trump accounts.
Trump's Stock Trading Scandal: Impeach and Convict?
Trump's investment accounts made 300 undisclosed stock purchases the day before he paused Liberation Day tariffs, then he urged Americans from the Oval Office to buy Dell stock — a company he's personally invested in. Kristol and Miller argue this is the clearest, most obvious impeachment case of Trump's presidency, even if conviction remains politically unrealistic.
Similar snapshots
Zero users on launch day
Despite months of meticulous preparation, Starter Story's initial launch attracted zero users — a humbling reminder that building alone guarantees nothing.
First Reddit post: 100 users
A single Reddit link post quickly drove 100 visitors to the Starter Story website, igniting the founder's belief in social traffic.
Hundreds of upvotes on repackaged post
After reformatting content as a native self-post (no direct link spam), the post exploded with hundreds of upvotes and thousands of readers.
Millions reading his content on Reddit
By posting again and again with the native-content strategy, the founder's posts repeatedly hit Reddit's front page, reaching millions of readers.
Tens of thousands of email subscribers
Before Reddit banned his domain, the founder converted his viral traffic into an email list of tens of thousands — a self-owned audience independent of Reddit.
Reddit petition to ban domain
Redditors eventually organized a petition to ban starterstory.com posts, effectively ending the Reddit growth channel — but the email list was already built.
$1M business built on Reddit hack
The Reddit attention strategy ultimately served as the foundation for a million-dollar business, proving that free distribution channels can replace paid marketing.
Strategy: native content, small footer link
The key tactic was keeping content fully on-platform (no direct link spam), then adding a small link at the post's end for users who wanted more.
Quit 9-to-5 after email list built
With a thriving email list and a self-owned audience, the founder quit his six-figure New York City salary job to go all-in on Starter Story.
