Trump’s White House dinner tonight costs $1.5M to attend, and he might not even show up

President Donald Trump is hosting a dinner at the White House tonight that costs $1.5 million per person, and he might not even make it.

The event, called the “Crypto & AI Innovators Dinner,” is being held by MAGA Inc., a super PAC raising funds for Trump, who is already back in office.

The event features David Sacks, a tech investor who’s been advising on crypto and AI policy from inside Washington. This is the first of two blockchain-linked events Trump has scheduled this month, and both are pulling in big money.

The PAC hasn’t said what it plans to do with the millions it’s collecting, and Trump, despite being president again, is using outside channels to gather political support and cash. The terms of the event clearly state that it can be canceled “for any reason,” and if that happens, attendees will walk away with a Trump NFT instead of a dinner.

Trump’s second crypto dinner accepts $TRUMP tokens, not cash

Later this month, on May 22, Trump will hold another dinner — this time not for fiat-rich donors, but for holders of the $TRUMP meme coin. That event will take place at Trump National, the president’s private club in the Washington, D.C. area.

The guest list won’t be curated by campaign staff or lobbyists, but by a blockchain leaderboard controlled by the coin’s creators. The contest to win a seat runs through May 12, and only the top 220 token holders will get a spot at the table.

The coin’s official website shows a live leaderboard with usernames of the biggest buyers. The top 25 holders will receive a “VIP White House Tour” and access to a special reception. The contest has triggered criticism from watchdog groups.

Kyle Herrig, the president of Accountable.US, called it “the most nakedly corrupt self-enrichment scheme in U.S. presidential history,” and warned that foreign buyers could use the system to gain access to the American president.

There’s also the fine print again: even this event can be canceled without notice, and Trump might not show. In that case, the consolation prize is another Trump NFT.

Still, that hasn’t stopped people from loading up on $TRUMP tokens. Since the May 22 gala was announced, the coin’s price has jumped by more than 50%, which has helped boost the value of wallets connected to the token’s early holders.

The coin launched in January, and it has already generated over $324 million in trading fees. Those fees are baked into the coin’s mechanics — a cut of every trade is sent straight to wallets run by the creators.

The May 5 dinner tonight and the May 22 dinner later this month are fueling a strange merger between politics, crypto, and personal enrichment. Both are pulling in millions — either from campaign donors or from people buying $TRUMP just to get on the leaderboard.

And in both cases, attendees might leave without seeing the president at all. But they’ll still walk away with assets tied to his name, and the people running the system will be much, much richer. Call that ‘Art of the Deal.’

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