"Unprecedented in US history" How Trump brazenly gilds his presidency
While the stock market crash he caused is destroying the savings of millions of Americans, Trump is using his US presidency to line his pockets. His family is also cashing in big time.
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- US President Donald Trump is once again using his presidency to enrich himself and his family.
- For example, Trump is hosting million-dollar dinners at his Mar-a-Lago resort or promoting his cryptocurrency as president.
- Family members such as First Lady Melania Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner earn a lot from this.
Trump's tariff announcement last Thursday sent stock market prices around the world into the abyss, with millions of Americans fearing for their retirement savings. He himself is apparently unconcerned: "Things are going great," he said into the microphones.
This is certainly true for Trump himself. Even during his first term in office, Trump used his presidency to cash in. Business people and politicians came and went at his Mar-a-Lago estate - as paying guests of the resort, of course. But Trump was subject to far more ethical boundaries eight years ago, as Der Spiegel writes. Now that he is back in office, however, Trump is making more unrestrained use of his property than ever before.
"Does anyone want to buy them?"
Even after the tariff hammer, the president was all about doing business. After triggering a shock in the US economy with his tariff announcement, he set off for Florida - among other things to meet business partners and paying guests.
On Air Force One, the US President held up a gold card with Trump's likeness to reporters and asked: "Does anyone want to buy this?" He wants to use this "Gold Card" to lure rich foreigners into the country - if they invest five million dollars. Russian oligarchs are also welcome to do so, as the president has previously emphasized.
Dinner instead of presidential duty
Trump's presence was actually required at the arrival of the bodies of four US soldiers who died in an accident in Lithuania. Instead, he sent his Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth - and instead attended a dinner for a Gulf league funded by Saudi Arabia. Trump and his family have also been doing business with the oil state for years. On Friday, there was another dinner in the White & Gold Ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort - for one million dollars per guest.
As Trump is no longer allowed to campaign, the proceeds will allegedly go to a "Trump library". Whether this will happen is questionable. The income for overnight stays, on the other hand, is always booked to the Trump Organization. According to the report, this was the fourth million-dollar dinner of this kind since the start of his second term in office.
"He doesn't give a shit anymore"
The president is hardly interested in conflicts of interest anymore. "He doesn't give a shit anymore," a top Trump adviser told the Washington Post. It is difficult to verify what of this money ultimately ends up in Trump's personal pockets. Trump is also still not sticking to the tradition of publishing his tax assessments.
For the duration of his presidency, Trump has handed over the management of his company to his son Eric. The Trump Organization assures that the President will stay out of day-to-day business. This should be verified by the Office of Government Ethics, an independent ethics authority of the US government. The problem: Donald Trump fired its head in February and there is no successor yet.
One million dollar annual membership
While many of the financial transactions remain in the dark, the US president is unabashedly promoting the cryptocurrency named after him. The profits from the meme coin directly benefit Donald Trump.
Business is also booming in the "southern White House", as Trump calls his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago. The annual membership fee has risen from 200,000 US dollars during his first term of office to the current one million dollars.
Added to this is income from Trump merchandising: the usual caps, T-shirts, a 3D model of Mar-a-Lago. Even a perfume with the name "Fight! Fight! Fight" has been on sale since the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
The family also cashes in
Other members of the Trump family are also making a lot of money. As the Wall Street Journal reported, Amazon paid 40 million US dollars for the rights to a documentary about the First Lady. Apparently, the Trump couple got on very well at a dinner with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and his fiancée.
The tech company outbid an offer from Disney by almost three times. According to the report, companies have also paid around 80 million dollars to members of the Trump family and the Trump presidential library, either through settlement payments in lawsuits or other transactions.
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is also getting involved again - albeit this time without office. His private investment fund received two billion dollars from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ignored the warning of his advisors.
Shortly before Trump's inauguration, Kushner's company finally announced a license deal for a new Trump Tower in Belgrade. The company is cooperating with the Emirati real estate billionaire Mohamed Alabbar.
According to ethics expert Aaron Scherb, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs at Common Cause, no other president has ever had such a mix of personal and public business: Cryptocurrencies and meme coins could also allow foreign governments or other actors to exert influence.
"We have seen President Trump and members of his family and close associates profit significantly from the presidency in a way that is unprecedented in American history."
