Donald Trump's net worth drops by more than $1 billion in a day as his meme stocks plummet

Shares of Trump Media and Technology Group, Truth Social's parent company, lost nearly a quarter of their market capitalization in Wednesday trading – the most they have ever lost in a single session. The plunge, driven by fears that Puerto Rican voters could cost Trump the key swing state of Pennsylvania, follows an otherwise stormy rally in October that saw TMTG shares nearly triple.

Accordingly Forbes, Trump, who tracks billionaires' net worth in real time, suffered a $1.3 billion loss that day as he owns about 57% of the company's outstanding shares. This could prove costly as he faces legal costs in numerous criminal cases, including a racketeering charge in Georgia for conspiring to interfere in the 2020 election.

Given that TMTG's total annual sales are in the low single-digit millions – roughly equivalent to the sales of a handful of Starbucks stores – its current market cap of $8 billion only makes sense in a scenario in which Trump returns to the White House in January after the Vote on Tuesday.

Polymarket quotas possibly exploited

This seemed likely after the odds suddenly and abruptly swung in Trump's favor in October, as was first predicted by the betting markets. One of them, the unregulated offshore blockchain-based Polymarket, has been repeatedly touted by Trump megadonor Elon Musk as being “more accurate than polls” because it involves bets from people who really know the game.

However, an exclusive report from Assets found evidence that Trump's long odds – widely cited as evidence of imminent victory – may have been artificially manipulated through a blockchain stealth scam called Wash Trading.

Just a day earlier, prominent short seller Jim Chanos expressed concerns that betting markets like Polymarket could be “gambled” legally and at minimal cost to a speculator. That could impact trillions of dollars' worth of U.S. Treasury bonds, priced at least in part below expectations that a Trump victory could boost inflation.

Unfortunately for TMTG shareholders, the Trump campaign may have suffered an unforced error in the final days of the race when a comedian called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash” during a Sunday rally at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania

Although this was just one of many offensive statements made by various speakers on stage, the Trump campaign felt it necessary to disavow this specific statement.

“I have no idea who he is, have never seen him, never heard of him — and I don’t want to hear from him,” Trump hastily told Fox News. “I don’t even know who used it. And I can’t imagine it’s a big deal: I’ve done more for Puerto Rico than any other president.”

The reason Trump is defending his record is that in Pennsylvania, the country's most hotly contested battleground, nearly half a million Americans are of Puerto Rican descent.

Biden won the state by fewer than 82,000 votes in 2020, erasing Trump's even smaller margin of victory four years earlier. That means Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes could once again be determined by fewer than 100,000 votes, giving the Puerto Rican community's voice a big impact just days before the election.

TMTG shares are expected to rise again at the start of Thursday's trading session.