We talk all the time about how President Trump bends over backwards to help boost the bottom lines of his billionaire friends. It’s about time that we discussed how Trump is moving mountains to benefit one billionaire in particular, and his favorite billionaire at that: himself.
Trump’s corruption is truly unprecedented in American history. It’s rare for presidents to try and use the office of the presidency to increase their own personal wealth, especially to the extent that Trump has. In a recent piece for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos described Trump’s self-dealing this way: “Even seasoned practitioners of Washington pay-to-play have been startled by the new rules for buying influence…[a] lobbying veteran described the frank exchange as ‘outer-borough Mafia s***.’” Osnos went on to detail the corruption that follows concentration of wealth at the top of society, noting that it is a breeding ground for oligarchical rule. He also attended our “How to Beat the Broligarchs” event back in April, and heavily featured the Patriotic Millionaires in his piece—we highly recommend you read it here!
For this week’s Closer Look, we’d like to examine some of the measures Trump has taken to profit from his presidency. We unfortunately can’t list every egregious thing that Trump has done to enrich himself—his rap sheet is too long, and our newsletter is not big enough to fit it all. But we’ll do our best to highlight his worst offenses.
Trump’s second-term self-enrichment
There’s no question that Trump used his first term in office to make a buck. He charged the Secret Service $2 million to stay at his properties to protect him. That’s a little more than the $3,000 a month the Service spent to rent a nearby studio—just to use its bathroom—to protect Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. His businesses also likely collected over $13 million from foreign governments.
Trump’s actions likely violated the foreign and domestic clauses of the Constitution and exposed the loopholes in our nation’s ethics laws. He enriched himself and his family constantly during his first term, and with a Congress and Supreme Court that failed to hold him to account, he saw his second term ripe with opportunity to do more of the same. Without the ethical guardrails and checks in place to challenge him and stop his behavior, Trump has continued to steamroll ethical norms and use the Oval Office for his own personal profit.
Some of the most glaring examples of this behavior include:
- $TRUMP cryptocurrency—Trump launched his $TRUMP cryptocurrency memecoin days before his inauguration in January. It has generated at least $320 million in fees for him and his business partners, in addition to the $4.1 billion that their own stash of Trump-branded coins netted them. In May, Trump hosted the 220 highest bidders in an auction of his memecoin at his Virginia golf club for a gala dinner. While the White House has refused to share the full official list of attendees, we do know that several of the guests told the media that they attended with the explicit intention of influencing Trump on policy.
- World Liberty Financial—The Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture has raised more than $550 million from token buyers around the world. A New York Times investigation found that World Liberty Financial engaged in “token swaps” which were really multimillion-dollar payments in exchange for access to and endorsements from Trump. The United Arab Emirates has also invested $2 billion into World Liberty Financial, which will shower the company, led by Trump’s two eldest sons, with millions every year.
- Executive Branch—Donald Trump Jr. and a few other high-profile MAGA associates have started an exclusive membership club, Executive Branch, in Washington, DC. Membership fees start at $500,000. Something to keep in mind: it’s illegal to use the presidential seal to falsely convey government endorsement or approval of its commercial interests. The Trump Organization has repeatedly done this in the past, and it sounds like the Executive Branch’s coat of arms cuts a little too close for comfort here, so we’ll keep an eye on it.
- Real estate deals—According to the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, at least 20 overseas Trump projects will be in development over the next four years. In April, Qatar agreed to help finance the development of a $5.5 billion Trump-branded luxury golf resort and villa complex in its country. Also, a Saudi Arabian real estate firm (with close ties to the Saudi Arabian government) and the Trump Organization announced their partnership in the development of a Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai and a second high-end residential tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- Clubs— Speaking of Saudi Arabia, Trump hosted an LIV Golf tournament at his Florida golf club in April. Backed by the Saudi Arabian wealth fund, LIV Golf paid an undisclosed (but probably eye-watering) sum to host the event there, which also drove thousands of fans to the adjoining Trump hotel. Trump’s other clubs have been raking it in His Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, raised its membership fee to $1 million and his golf club in Bedminster raised its initiation fee to $125,000.
- Melania Trump promotional film—Jeff Bezos’s Amazon agreed to finance the development of a documentary film about Melania Trump’s return to the White House to the tune of $40 million. Melania will reportedly make $28 million from the movie. (It’s probably worth mentioning here that Amazon also donated big-time to Trump’s inauguration and has a number of federal contracts.)
- Military parade—The Trump administration is organizing a large-scale, $45 million military parade in Washington, DC to celebrate the US Army’s 250th birthday on June 14th, which oh-so-conveniently happens to be Trump’s own birthday. With its planned flyovers, military vehicles, and thousands of marching service members, the parade will resemble those put on by dictators in countries like Russia, North Korea, and China. To our knowledge, Trump and his family aren’t benefiting monetarily from this spectacle, but it’s still egregious that they will “receive” something so grandiose and expensive, especially while they’re complicit in cutting vital social services for working people. We cannot make that make sense.
- Qatar plane—Last but not least, there is Trump’s $400 million luxury Boeing 747 that he received from Qatar. He will refit the plane to be his new Air Force One, and his presidential library will own it after he leaves office. The airplane is so luxurious it has been dubbed the “palace in the sky.” Experts have said that the plane is worth more than all foreign gifts bestowed on all former American presidents combined. Unlike other gifts from foreign governments (like the Statue of Liberty), Trump has not tried to get this approved by Congress, per the foreign emoluments clause in the Constitution.
Conclusion
Trump likes to paint himself as a successful businessman, but his track record tells a different story. He filed for bankruptcy six times and, according to a Forbes 2021 analysis, would actually be worth more if he’d simply invested the inheritance he received from his father into the S&P 500.
But now, by exploiting ethical and financial loopholes in our nation’s laws, Trump has finally hit his stride in money-making. Casinos, steaks, wines, fake universities, and magazines didn’t bring him the wealth he desired. But being president—and throwing any and all ethical norms and standards out the window and selling access to the top levers of the government to the highest bidder—is what finally did the trick.
Every day and every hour, Trump does something outrageous— whether it involves tariffs, targeting Harvard University, travel bans, or a public breakup with Elon Musk— that distracts people from the last outrageous thing he did. In doing all of this, he is successfully flooding the zone, and overwhelming people with the velocity and volume of his terrible decisions. And every day and every hour, he does something new to fleece the American public and line his own pockets.
It’s difficult to keep up with it all, but that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to keep your attention focused on Trump’s presidential grifting and tell you the truth about America’s Trump-induced slide into oligarchy. And we’re finding it’s a bit easier these days to get people to listen. Evan Osnos spoke about this in his New Yorker piece:
“For fifteen years, the Patriotic Millionaires have waged an earnest battle to persuade wealthy people to lobby for higher taxes on themselves. This has often been a lonesome endeavor, but Trump’s assault on democracy, financed by some of America’s richest people, has fortified the group’s arguments. Scott Ellis, a member who used to run a consulting group at Hewlett-Packard, told me that even skeptical peers in Silicon Valley had become increasingly receptive. ‘Some friends used to humor me, but they’re listening more,’ he said.”
The American public deserves better than a president who only cares about using his position to make a buck—not to mention, hosting a $45 million military-themed birthday party for himself. They deserve a president that serves their interests and who is of, by, and for the people—not of, by, and for the billionaires, including himself. It’s a bit harder these days, but rest assured, the Patriotic Millionaires will continue to do our part to ensure the American people get that kind of president.