That's the important point here, but let's offer the longer answer first, explaining what Trump was saying and why.
The post in question was linked to an essay in Bitcoin magazine written by a former Trump administration communications staffer. He suggested that Trump was "the best choice for bitcoin," which Trump's post amplified.
“VOTE FOR TRUMP! “Bitcoin mining may be our last line of defense against a CBDC,” he said. “Biden's hatred of Bitcoin only helps China, Russia and the radical communist left. We want all remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!! “It will help us become ENERGETICLY DOMINANT!!!”
A “CBDC” is a central bank digital currency, a government-issued cryptocurrency. The idea is anathema to many bitcoin advocates, given their acceptance of the cryptocurrency as a alternative to government-backed currencies. Trump, in an attempt to appeal to cryptocurrency enthusiasts, has taken up the cause, at least as part of his speech.
“I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency,” Trump has said (in one form or another) half a dozen times in speeches this year, including during remarks at the Libertarian Party's anti-government convention. The complaint usually comes in a list of campaign promises that you are reading off the teleprompter.
This was not a problem when he was president. In fact, he criticized cryptocurrencies specifically in 2019, saying that he was "not a fan" and that the currencies could "facilitate illegal behavior."
I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money and whose value is highly volatile and based on air. Unregulated cryptoassets can facilitate illegal behavior, including drug trafficking and other illegal activities....
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
But now it wants “all remaining Bitcoin to be made in the US,” which is like declaring that you want all remaining animated movies to be made in the US: if people elsewhere have computers, they're going to have a chance to mine bitcoins.
Obviously, Bitcoin mining is not real mining. It is a technical term used to describe efforts to solve complicated mathematical equations, and users who solve the equations earn bitcoins as rewards. It's not about solving equations with pencil and paper, but computational, so the effort to solve the equations requires an enormous amount of computing power and, by extension, electricity. This is apparently why Trump says that focusing on bitcoin mining would make the United States “energy dominant,” although it's a bit like saying that using a much larger percentage of the world's gasoline would make us energy dominant. fossil fuels.
Trump's effort to appeal to the cryptocurrency community is not surprising given how young and male that community is. That broader electorate is one Trump has been targeting for some time.
Survey conducted by YouGov Earlier this year it reflected that Americans and younger men were more likely to have heard a lot about cryptocurrencies.
Men were also more likely to have invested in cryptocurrencies, although this electorate was slightly older.
But hearing about cryptocurrencies and having confidence in them are two different things. About three-quarters of Americans, including young people, indicated that they thought at least half of cryptocurrency companies were outright scams.
On Axios, Trump's promotion of cryptocurrencies, including his introduction of a line of NFTs in 2022, was framed as part of its effort to attract younger voters. But this brings us back to the starting point: their proposals tend to follow supportive cues rather than push them. (NFTs, meanwhile, were clearly a pure money game.)
Gallup data shows that younger, black and Hispanic Americans have veered to the rightparticularly since 2020. This is not clearly reflected in voter registration data analyzed by the Pew Research Center, but it is something that Trump and his allies have grasped. That's why his campaign is trying to take advantage of his perceived advantage.
The campaign and its allies also tend to present causality the other way around. After Trump was impeached following his indictment in Georgia, for example, his mugshot was hailed by conservative pundits as driving new black support for his candidacy. There was no evidence of that. In June 2023, YouGov measured support for Trump among black voters at 15 percent. The mugshot was in August of that year. A recent YouGov poll put Trump at a statistically similar 12 percent.
Polls show younger voters more divided on race between Trump and president biden than was reflected in the 2020 exit polls. But that has been the case for some time now; the youngest voters were among the first constituencies bitter Biden's presidency. The trend began long before anyone on Trump's team included his denunciation of central bank cryptocurrencies in his speech.
The question, of course, is what will happen on Election Day. Polls also suggest that Biden has a broader advantage among the most likely voters, including younger Americans. The Harvard Youth Survey, published in April, showed that effect dramatically.
Trump's social media post about bitcoin reflects an effort to appeal to cryptocurrency advocates even as it conveys some unfamiliarity with the community. It seems safe to assume that the endorsement has less to do with broadly appealing to young voters than with trying to win over a favorable voting bloc, however modest. It is also about repositioning Trump as the outsider, the guy willing to confront the establishment in all its manifestations.
He spent decades trying to close the deal on New York City real estate transactions. This post about bitcoin can probably be best read as an effort to sweeten the deal for a customer you hope is about to sign.
