What’s in Fort Knox? I think that was a question in a trivia game, and the answer is – gold? But is there gold in Fort Knox? Elon Musk wants to know. Maybe they can get Geraldo Rivera to host a reveal party.  

Maybe Rivera will jinx the whole thing, and we’ll find out that Fort Knox doesn’t have any gold. Maybe they’ll find bars of lead painted in gold, or tons of fake commemorative coins. Trump and Musk want to inspect Fort Knox's gold.  

"We're going to go to Fort Knox, the fabled Fort Knox, to make sure the gold is there," Trump told reporters Wednesday while aboard Air Force One. 

Musk wrote multiple posts on X before Trump broached auditing the famed base, which houses the US Treasury's bullion reserves. 

"It would be cool to do a live video walkthrough of Fort Knox!" Musk wrote in a reply to far-right radio host Alex Jones on February 17. Later that day, he again posted about the base. 

"Who is confirming that gold wasn't stolen from Fort Knox?" Musk wrote. "Maybe it's there, maybe it's not." 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the department already audits the stockpile every year. 

More--> Is It Still There? Rand Paul Wants Elon and DOGE to Audit Fort Knox and Its $425B Gold Reserve

People "go for the gold." When FDR banned private ownership of gold and demanded that citizens turn in their gold for paper, Americans by and large said, “Cram it, Mr. President.” From normal peeps to pirates, gold has an allure.  

People can be convinced to give up their hard-earned cash if they think they are buying gold as a hedge against catastrophe. Lots of gold sellers are legit. I have gold coins (actual gold coins) as a hedge. What I have never bought are coins “clad in gold.”  

I remember years ago seeing a ridiculous ad selling ridiculous “coins” clad in gold. I was curious to see if those fake gold coins were still being advertised. They are. And lots of online pages warn of scams.   

Have you ever bought a product after seeing it advertised on TV? Well, maybe a pizza – but not a car. And definitely not fake gold coins (as in they aren’t gold – they are “clad” in gold). The "National Collectors Mint" (MCM) sells replica coins and advertises on TV and YouTube. The “Mint” calls them "tribute" coins. Here's the come-on: 

The voice-over tells the viewer that the coins are replicas of real $50 gold coins. A Buffalo $50 gold piece. As the coin rotates on the screen the spokes-guy tells the audience a short history of that particular (real) coin. It (the actual gold coin) was struck with 24 karat gold.  

Then National Collectors Mint tells the viewer that to own their coin, it’s "only" $9.95" per coin, but you have to act fast - and you can only order five... 'cause it wouldn't be fair to the rest of humanity if you cornered the market on their “commemorative” coin. The feds require that National Collectors Mint put a "copy" somewhere. Maybe it's hidden in the Buffalo, like Where's Waldo, but I couldn't see it. 

Mr. Announcer speaks in rapid, breathless tones with charts of climbing gold prices as background that, I'm certain, motivate scores of stupid people to rush to place their order. How many people think they're buying actual gold coins? Maybe a lot, but they are buying crap – well technically “clad” crap.  

Listen closely. Mr. Announcer doesn't lie - he just relies on an age-old magic trick - while he's distracting people with a shiny bobble, he tells the audience that the coins are "tribute" copies, the coins are cast with 14 milligrams of .9999 pure gold... "that's four nines!" He concludes by extolling the gullible to avoid "disappointment and future regret" - BUY YOUR TRIBUTE COINS TODAY!  

How much is 14 milligrams of gold? There are roughly 28,349 milligrams in an ounce. I wasn't great at math, but 14 milligrams is about 0.00049 percent of an ounce of gold. As of today, gold is $2,942 an ounce. So the "gold clad" "tribute" coins selling for $9.95 on TV online contain about $1.44 of gold. Assuming it costs the company another buck to mint the coin - with shipping costing $4.95 - it's realizing a very handsome profit.  

You'd get a better value from a commemorative plate of Fat Elvis - at least when you realized the plate isn't worth much you could at least use it... as a plate.  

When Elon Musk and the DOGE team (maybe with Geraldo) open a Fort Knox vault, let's hope that there are gold bars and not a collection of National Collectors Mint coins, with Elizebeth Warren’s face on one side and Jerry Nadler on the other.