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- Trump nominated author and conservative pundit Nick Adams to be US Ambassador to Malaysia.Adams' financial disclosure offers a rare look at the personal finances of a MAGA influencer.He disclosed around $47,000 from Cameo, the personalized video platform, in the last year and a half.
It's not every day that a high-profile political influencer has to detail exactly how they make their money.
But that's exactly what Nick Adams, a MAGA-aligned influencer and author, has done as he awaits Senate confirmation to become the US Ambassador to Malaysia under President Donald Trump.
Adams describes himself online as an "alpha male" and is known for his occasionally crass humor. He is originally from Australia, where he was elected to local office in 2004. He later moved to the US and became a citizen in 2021.
Trump announced Adams's nomination in a Truth Social post on July 10, calling him an "incredible Patriot and very successful entrepreneur, whose love of, and devotion to, our Great Country is an inspiration."
Adams did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
His financial disclosure, obtained this week by Business Insider, details various sources of income. The 29-page document covers his financial activity from the beginning of 2024 until June.
His largest source of income that he disclosed during that period was from the Foundation for American Liberty and Greatness, a nonprofit organization that Adams founded in 2016. It promotes American civics content in K-12 schools. He was paid more than $380,000 during the reporting period.
Adams also reported earning a $156,000 salary from Highfield Consulting, an entity he owns that receives the fees he earns from book sales, paid speeches, and other payments.
His next largest disclosed source of income is paid speeches, which netted him over $114,000. His disclosure lists 36 different appearances, most of which were before local Republican Party groups.
He also earned a salary of over $56,000 from Influenceable, a firm that works to promote conservative content online via social media influencers.
Adams, who describes himself on social media as Trump's favorite author, also appears to have made thousands of dollars from the sale of 10 books. But it's unclear exactly how much he earned from book sales overall: Adams disclosed that he could only provide approximations for how much money he had made from each book.
His most recent book, entitled "From Mar-a-Lago to Mars: President Trump's Great American Comeback," was published in May 2025.
Among Adams's most interesting sources of income was the roughly $47,000 he earned from Cameo, a website where individuals pay for personalized video messages from prominent figures.
According to his Cameo profile, Adams charges a minimum of $100 for personalized videos that include roasts, birthday messages, and pep talks.
He appears to have continued making Cameo videos well after his nomination was announced in early July: The most recent video he recorded was on August 20, according to the site.
Adams also disclosed earning over $28,000 in fees for a series of appearances on Al Jazeera, a news channel that is funded by the government of Qatar, in late 2024 and throughout the first half of 2025.
And like other Trump administration appointees, he's made a decent chunk of change simply from being active on social media.
His disclosure said that he expected to earn over $41,000 this year from a monetized Meta account, along with $11,850 from X's content creator payment system.
If he's confirmed, he'll have to give it all up — at least during his time as an ambassador.
Adams signed an ethics agreement that largely forbids him from continuing to receive outside compensation, beyond his government salary.
