The attempted launch of Truth Social, the flagship social media app produced by Trump Media & Technology Group, appears to have been a glitch-ridden embarrassment, as documented by my partner Tina Nguyen. Of course, that didn’t stop Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that is taking TMTG public, from popping 17 percent on the news. DWAC, which is being investigated by the S.E.C. and FINRA for potential insider trading preceding the merger announcement, was already trading at about nine times its I.P.O. price in a fit of late-cycle meme-stock hysteria reminiscent of AMC, GameStop and Virgin Galactic. We know how those stories ended.

Indeed, some of the smart money behind DWAC appears to have already taken its winnings and gone home. D.E. Shaw, which owned shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Donald Trump’s SPAC, has sold its entire stake, according to recent filings, presumably for a tidy profit. For some, it was a peculiar transaction, given that the company’s eponymous founder, the legendary David E. Shaw, is a Democrat who gave millions to Hillary Clinton’s election campaign. So why did the firm make the bet?