By Joseph Curl
Joe Rogan, the man who has made millions just by spouting common sense, had another little pearl of wisdom back when he mused on just how former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got so rich.
鈥淗ow does that happen, like, the Nancy Pelosi situation? in front of your face. She鈥檚 never made more than $175,000 a year, but she鈥檚 worth 100-something million dollars. How does that happen?鈥 Mr. Rogan said.
A guest on his podcast answered, 鈥淐orruption.鈥
鈥淐orruption,鈥 Mr. Rogan said. 鈥淐orruption. It only happens through corruption, and it鈥檚 transparent, legal corruption. It鈥檚 very strange.鈥
Mr. Rogan seems to think there鈥檚 no other explanation, except possibly that Mrs. Pelosi is a clairvoyant genius. The Pelosi household had yet another banner year in 2024, proving once again that if there were an Olympic event for 鈥渓ucky鈥 stock trading, the former House speaker and her husband could give even the shrewdest Wall Street sharks a run for their money.
According to recently disclosed financial filings, the couple raked in upward of $43 million last year, with their net worth ballooning to as much as $413 million from a measly $370 million. Not bad for someone who makes $174,000 a year in taxpayer money.
The bulk of the couple鈥檚 wealth reportedly comes from a finely tuned, high-performance stock portfolio that apparently outpaces not just the S&P 500 but most hedge fund managers too.
To recap the Pelosis鈥 greatest hits of 2024:
鈥 The Microsoft move: Five thousand shares sold right before the Federal Trade Commission launched an antitrust investigation. Pure luck? Sure.
鈥 The Visa vanish: Ditched 2,000 shares just months before the Justice Department came knocking with a lawsuit. A coincidence? Definitely.
鈥 Russian roulette: In February, the couple paid $600,000 to $1.25 million for a call option on cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks. In the oddest of coincidences, that same week the White House briefed lawmakers on a serious national security threat related to Russia. The shares rose nearly 20% in the following days.
鈥 The Nvidia windfall: Bought call options on Nvidia for $12 a share when the market price was soaring past $120. Result? A casual $7.2 million outcome on a $2.4 million bet. Truly, the pair must have studied at the Nostradamus School of Finance.
The pair is already raking in the dough in 2025. In January, the couple bought call options for a little-known AI health firm called Tempus AI, which just happened to sign a $200 million deal with AstraZeneca. The stock price doubled.
The couple also took out call options for energy company Vistra. And guess what? The stock soared last month after it unveiled that the company had signed a nearly $2 billion deal to acquire natural gas facilities across America.
But back to last year. How did the Pelosis do? Their investment portfolio pulled in a whopping 54% return, more than double the S&P 500鈥檚 25% gain. That return also crushed every large hedge fund, according to Bloomberg鈥檚 end-of-year tally. Maybe hedge fund managers should abandon the strategy books and start following PelosiTracker on social media, an app that tracks every trade the couple makes in real time.
Yet amid the insane profits and eerily prescient market plays, there鈥檚 mounting pressure to put an end to lawmakers being allowed to freely trade individual stocks all while possessing insider knowledge that could move markets. Apparently, the public doesn鈥檛 love the idea of elected officials consistently hitting jackpots with information the rest of us mortals don鈥檛 stand a chance of accessing.
Although Mrs. Pelosi has softened her stance on a trading ban, saying things like, 鈥淚f they do, they do,鈥 the whole system remains unsettling at best and shamelessly flawed at worst. Call it 鈥渇ree market democracy,鈥 as Mrs. Pelosi often does, but when the rules benefit the few while the rest are stuck in the dark, it is clearly time for a change.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have hinted at supporting a trading ban, but will they follow through before the next elections? Shutting off the spigot could be a bold, refreshing move that actually shows taxpayers their leaders care more about governance than gaming the stock market.
Because if making millions off insiderlike trading stays part of the job perks, expect an endless parade of candidates who are perfectly happy to trade transparency for personal gain.
鈥 Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter @josephcurl.