More than half a million concurrent viewers were tuned in to streamer Adin Ross‘ Kick channel on Monday afternoon to watch an interview with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. In addition to hearing the GOP presidential nominee rant about some of his favorite topics, they also saw Trump receive two expensive, potentially illegal gifts from Ross: a gold Rolex and a custom-wrapped Cybertruck.
Ross is a prolific 23-year-old streamer with millions of followers across Kick, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube, renowned for his boisterous energy and bro-ish antics that frequently cross a line into toxic territory. He has previously platformed the white supremacist Nick Fuentes, as well as the alleged sex trafficker Andrew Tate, a mentor of sorts. In March, Ross accidentally snitched on Tate as he planned to flee criminal charges in Romania. (Tate, who is awaiting trial, has denied the charges.) After several Twitch bans over the years, the last one permanent, Ross in 2023 moved to the streaming platform Kick, which allows gambling content and is barely moderated. “We can do whatever the fuck we want,” he told his fans at the time.
Ross began Monday’s Kick stream by acknowledging that many doubted he had really landed a Trump interview. “Today is going to be the most important stream I’ve ever done,” he said after Trump came out to 50 Cent‘s “Many Men (Wish Death)” and joined Ross before a small audience. “Everyone thought this was going to be fake,” he added. (Ross’ last blockbuster political interview, pitched as a conversation with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, instead saw him talking to a professional impersonator.)
Wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, Ross made no effort to sound or appear impartial. His questions set up Trump to complain about everything from supposed liberal bias in schools (“Even the teachers have been brainwashed,” the former president said) and border security (though, unusually, Trump did not mention Hannibal Lecter this time). Trump, for his part, praised Ross as an “outstanding” young man, predicted that the livestream would break viewership records, and said that his youngest son, Barron Trump, is a “big fan” of Ross. From Trump’s positive comments on Ross’ youth and his clout as an influencer, it seems he saw the chummy interview as a welcome advantage in an intensifying battle for the hearts and minds of Gen Z. Vice President Kamala Harris is likewise garnering support from prominent content creators and riding the momentum of Zoomer memes.
When he wasn’t bashing Harris and President Joe Biden — or calling Harris’ elevation to the top of the 2024 Democratic ticket a “coup” — Trump made dire predictions for the future of the country should he not win the election: “I don’t think it survives,” he said at one point. He also floated several of his characteristically bizarre claims about his term in office, saying that he once played Kim Jong Un the Elton John song “Rocket Man” and that before he became president, “You weren’t allowed to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ I got it back.” As Ross noted that he himself is Jewish, Trump continued, “Even if you’re Jewish, they like to say Merry Christmas. Every one of my Jewish friends say, ‘We love Merry Christmas.'”
Trump in particular commended Ross’ success in streaming and deference to him, drawing a sharp contrast between this friendly chat and a combative event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists last week. In that appearance, Trump lashed out at ABC News congressional correspondent Rachel Scott over a tough first question on his past comments about Black people and links to white supremacists including Fuentes. During the same interview, Trump also made racist comments about Harris, falsely asserting that she had only ever claimed Indian heritage until “she happened to turn Black.” On Monday’s stream, Ross agreed that Scott had been “so rude” as Trump called her “horrible” and “nasty.” On the other hand, Trump said, Ross’ open endorsement of him for president was “ethical.”
Ross, who in the past has received Twitch bans for hateful slurs and once streamed explicit Pornhub videos to an audience that likely included many underage viewers, elsewhere sought to criticize Harris because “a rapper was twerking at her at a rally.” He did not mention the performer, Megan Thee Stallion, by name, and given his history as an edgy content creator, the scandalized routine rang somewhat hollow. But the more glaring indications that Ross was out of his depth came in the form of his gifts to Trump. First, he gave the former president a gold Rolex. “That’s a great watch company,” Trump said as he opened the box. “Now I know it’s worth it,” he added, seeming to joke that it had been worth his while to appear on Ross’ channel.
Then, toward the end of the livestream, Ross took Trump outside — they paused to greet Félix Lengyel, a Canadian streamer better known as xQc, who was wearing a shirt of Trump with gold and silver grills on his teeth — to reveal a Tesla Cybertruck wrapped with an image of Trump holding his fist up after being wounded in an assassin’s attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally last month. (Earlier in the stream, Ross had expressed his awe at the “badass” photo. “I got whacked,” said Trump, who described how brave his supporters were for not fleeing the scene. He did not comment on the one attendee who was killed or the two others seriously injured in the shooting.)
Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director of Documented, a watchdog group that tracks and investigates money in politics, tells Rolling Stone that Ross’ gifts appear to have been “provided to Trump in his capacity as a candidate and because he is running for office, and are therefore considered contributions” to his campaign — an interpretation supported by the Trump imagery on the truck. “It isn’t part of a pattern of gifts exchanged between him and Trump that preceded his candidacy,” Fischer points out.
Contributions are subject Federal Election Commission rules, Fischer explains — in this case, the $3,300 per election limit for individuals. What’s more, the definition of “contribution” encompasses any “gifts.”
“Giving gifts valued at tens of thousands of dollars to a candidate amounts to an illegal and excessive campaign contribution,” Fischer says. “I suspect that once Trump talks to his lawyers, we’ll get an announcement that he is turning down the gifts or donating them to charity.” The Trump camp’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, tells Rolling Stone that the campaign “will submit an advisory opinion to the FEC to seek guidance on how to handle the gifts.”
“The evidence suggests that Ross made or sought to make an illegal contribution, so he could face civil penalties,” Fischer says. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if Trump were to reject the gift and Ross were to plead ignorance of the law, in which case I suspect that the FEC wouldn’t spend too much time on the matter.”
Still, Trump at least got to sample the sound system in the Cybertruck as he and Ross gushed about Tesla CEO Elon Musk, another outspoken Trump supporter whom the former president had labeled a “genius” earlier in the livestream. The pair listened to “California Dreamin'” by the Mamas and Papas and “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys, as well as tunes by Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, whom Trump said he knew well. The pair decided to sign off by dancing in the driveway to the Village People’s “YMCA,” a favorite at Trump rallies. “That’s the best one,” Trump said of the song before showing off his moves and making one last pitch to young viewers: “Trump is going to keep TikTok going,” he said. “Whereas Biden and Harris have no idea what it means.” Trump had initially led a charge in Washington to ban the app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, but completely reversed his position earlier this year while vying for the youth vote.
After the stream ended, Harris for President spokesperson Sarafina Chitika blasted Trump’s performance in a statement provided to Rolling Stone: “Donald Trump’s sad attempt to connect with young voters flopped because like the rest of America, Gen Z isn’t into an unhinged, tired man trying to increase their taxes, kick them off their parents’ insurance, deny climate change, rip away their freedoms, and force his Project 2025 agenda on their entire generation,” Chitika said. The Harris campaign described the stream in a statement as “a boring, low energy interview,” noted that Ross failed to meet his goal of surpassing a million simultaneous viewers, and observed that “Trump was so diminished he could barely be heard by frustrated viewers who repeatedly commented to turn up his mic.” (The sound problems were an irony given Trump’s complaints of faulty mics and difficulty hearing at the NAJB event.)
If Trump does try to hold on to his Cybertruck, he may want to heed the warnings of other owners reporting a variety of malfunctions and structural problems, which have already led to several recalls. Probably the safest thing to do would be park it out in front of the resort as a billboard. Or, to take a page from his new pal Ross, he could bring the vehicle out to a gun range and pump it full of 9mm rounds. American freedom at its finest.
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Donald Trump speaks in front of the American flag at the White House, on May 12, 2026.
It’s the Corruption, Stupid
Let’s say it plainly: There has never been a president as corrupt as Donald Trump. There is no close second in our history.
Take two days in May as Exhibit A. Americans just found out that in the first quarter of this year, Trump’s stock portfolio made 3,600 trades — an average of nearly 60 a day. This is a rapacious pace that would make a day trader on meth blush. Many of these appear suspiciously timed to benefit from actions approved by the president himself. For example, his Nvidia stock surged after Trump announced the company would be permitted to sell its cutting-edge AI chips to China. Similar suspiciously well-timed calls were made ahead of big government moves involving other companies, from Intel to Palantir to Boeing. The Trump Organization says all trades are made by a third-party investment advisor. If so, they appear to be psychic.
But the apparent insider trading scam being run from within the Oval Office is small change — merely millions of dollars — compared to the self-dealing plunder of $1.8 billion tax-payer dollars being pushed through the DOJ and IRS.
There’s never been a sitting president who sued his own government for $10 billion. That’s because it’s absurdly corrupt. But that’s what Donald Trump did, arguing he had suffered damages from prosecutions pursued before he was reelected. Trump, like many of his supporters, persistently confuses persecution with prosecution.
The judge who heard the case convened an independent panel to review the suit, suspecting it might be a scam. Before the case could be dismissed, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — who had previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer — declared that the bogus suit would be preemptively settled, not for $10 billion, but for the symbolic sum of $1.776 billion, which Trump said will be distributed to persecuted political allies.
This is a shakedown. The president is compelling a Justice Department he controls to redirect money from taxpayers — that’s you — to his most fervent supporters. This slush fund will set off a cash grab among MAGA lawyers and be used to reward partisan fanatics who attacked the U.S. Capitol — and police officers — on his behalf.
If that wasn’t enough of a blatantly illegal use of presidential power, it was revealed that the “settlement” deal included a pledge signed by the acting attorney general that would ensure — in the hysterical all caps of a Trump tweet — that the government would be “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing” any tax claims, audits or related prosecutions against Trump, his family or their businesses. This is an attempt to get a permanent get-out-of-jail-free card for the Trump family — a license to steal.
All of this is insane. All of it is unethical, and much of it is illegal and impeachable — but our system was not designed to deal with a shamelessly self-dealing president, a spineless Republican Congress, and a complaint conservative Supreme Court that has refused to enforce the emoluments clause of the Constitution and ruled that Trump has immunity for actions he takes as president. That ruling may prove to be the most consequential — and most corrosive — act of judicial abdication in American history. Against this partisan-group think, individual acts of courage matter. So kudos to the top lawyer at the Treasury Department, Brian Morrissey, who at least had the integrity to resign rather than oversee this tax-payer funded plunder.
Just to close out the corruption-palooza, Trump announced that he would endorse the Lone Star State poster-boy of corruption, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in his primary against incumbent GOP Senator John Cornyn. Paxton’s scandals include a truly buffoonish array of fraud and bribery charges that resulted in him nearly being impeached by the state legislature. But corruption is a feature, not a bug, of Trumpland.All this smacks of late Rome and you’d be forgiven for half expecting Trump will next appoint a horse to an open Cabinet position, with Republicans rationalizing the need for more equine representation. It is no more absurd that the cavalcade of Trump appointees refusing to say that Biden won the 2020 election during their confirmation hearings in the Senate. The decision to parrot unreality for partisan gain defines deviancy down.
But in the search for something hopeful to hold onto in dark times, you can find some comfort in the fact that corruption is often the thing that turns the tide against authoritarian-adjacent administrations. And there is evidence this is happening.
Trump’s billions in self-enrichment, his reflexive twisting of U.S. policy to sell out long-term national interests and enduring values, comes at a moment when nearly half of Americans say they are feeling extremely anxious about their own financial situation.
That anxiety is driven by the widening gap between Main Street and Wall Street, a gap set on fire by a trade war and a real war Trump started, which has no end in sight but promises to further raise energy prices, fertilizer prices, and strangle the global economy. While CEOs embrace the transactional nature of this president, kissing his ring and offering vigs, the situation is grim if you’re not lining up at the Trump trough. At a time when the super-rich are getting richer, everyone else is told to go to hell by the man in the White House.
These are precisely the kinds of conditions that turn people against an aging, autocratic president who shows contempt for the very people who put him in office. It is not just that Trump’s approval numbers have plummeted to the point where two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the job he is doing. It is that Trump, for the first time, is opposed by a majority of non-college-educated white voters — a.k.a. his base — and they feel betrayed because Trump is raking in billions of dollars while they struggle to pay rent and buy groceries. Trump has dismissed and discounted their concerns, turning a blind eye to the anger about rising costs that carried him back into the presidency.
Trump’s aim is to make his thievery so blatant that we collectively become numb to it and disfigure our democracy in the process. Once upon a time conservatives warned about the dangers of “crony capitalism” and corruption. Now they are silent and complicit. It is the temporary triumph of partisanship over principle. Patriotism demands that we reassert the basic American idea that no man is above the law and that our presidents are not kings.