During President Donald Trump‘s recent cabinet meeting, billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick provided a vague, optimistic report on the workforce (“we’re gonna train the workforce to build America”) and an excited take on the new Trump Gold Card.
Note: Two weeks ago, on Air Force One with reporters, Trump unveiled the first Trump Gold Card (see below), which he said would be sold for $5 million to wealthy foreigners looking for a fast track to U.S. citizenship.
The stock market has now lost over $9 trillion in value since Trump’s inauguration and he’s out the selling $5M gold cards with his face on them….Trump has made America an embarrassment for Americans and a laughing stock to the world
pic.twitter.com/duaNPWIGhE— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) April 4, 2025
This week Lutnick reported: “It’s unbelievable. We’ve got so much, as I travel around, the attention on the Trump gold card. I mean, it makes me very popular.”
He added: “Last night, I was out at dinner and someone came up to me and asked ‘Can I buy ten? and how do I buy ten?’ and I’m like, it’s pretty good, it’s $50 million for dinner. So, you know, it’s paying for my dinner.”
Lutnick: The attention on the trump gold card. It makes me very popular. Last night I was out to dinner and someone came up and said can I buy ten? How do I buy ten? It’s good, $50 million for dinner. It’s paying for my dinner. pic.twitter.com/98uiV4mh4I
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2025
More than one commenter responded to Lutnick’s dinner story with disbelief, putting it in a category called: “Things that never happened.” Another chimed in: “And I’m sure they had tears in their eyes as they were asking about it.”
The latter comment is a reference to President Trump’s frequently made claim that people commonly approach him with tears of gratitude in their eyes.
“If you take President Trump’s anecdotes at face value, a lot of people cry when they meet him,” the New York Times reported in 2019.
Citing a Toronto Star report that called many of Trump’s claims “dubious” — an accusation also leveled at Lutnick’s tale — the Times article held that there are “examples of Trump bringing supporters to tears, but there are also examples of Trump making up crying stories about Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Trump has also asserted at least twice that unnamed chief executives (“from the biggest companies”) cried upon entering the Oval Office.”