One of my biggest gripes about Trump’s first term was the inability of the media or the congressional Democrats to wrap their minds around the flagrant corruption that was happening right before their eyes. Yes, there were stories written and some investigations undertaken. We all learned what the word “emoluments” means. But it seemed that there was no way to effectively deal with a politician so shameless that he didn’t even try to hide his conflicts of interest so nothing was ever done to hold him to account.
As we learned back then, the president and the vice president are not subject to the conflict of interest laws that apply to every other government official and employee. The idea was that the president should be able to act in the national interest even if it should benefit them personally. (Surely, Mar-a-Lago meet and greets for hundreds of thousands of dollars are in the national interest, right?) Various entities did sue Trump for violating the aforementioned prohibition on presidents accepting emoluments and gifts from foreign governments but the courts dragged their feet as usual and by the time it got to the Supreme Court Trump was out of office that the court dismissed the cases as being moot. Trump is very lucky that way.
The government spent massive amounts of taxpayer money ferrying him around to his commercial resorts where he essentially sold access to the members and promoted his properties in the U.S. and around the world every chance he got. He owned a hotel in Washington D.C. that served as a meeting place for political players and foreign actors who spent lavishly to curry favor with the president. One ethics organization called it a “sinkhole of corruption.” Foreign governments rented out whole floors in Trump office buildings and left them empty.
Trump’s son-in-law and middle east envoy Jared Kushner made a massive $2 billion deal with the Saudi Arabia Sovereign Wealth Fund upon his departure from government and Donald Trump somehow left office $2.4 billion richer than when he came in.
Politics were very lucrative for the Trump family from 2016 to 2020. But all that was chicken feed compared to what they’re doing now. This time it’s no holds barred, straight-up grift and corruption in the billions, featuring foreign governments, sleazy scam artists, and a big play in the arcane world of crypto finance.
Trump is still promoting his properties every chance he gets. This term, however, he’s also involved with LIV golf, which is sponsored by the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund group, and holds tournaments in the U.S. at Trump’s golf courses. Trump makes money from the tournaments as an investor and also as the host. It’s a nice little grift and it gives the Saudi sponsors an easy way to grease the president of the United States’ palms. But that’s nothing compared to the rest of Trump’s ongoing involvement in the middle east.
Trump’s son Eric has been all over the region putting together real estate deals with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, countries which are very intimately involved with U.S. foreign policy. Eric Lipton and various other reporters at the N.Y. Times have been tracking these ventures and others and reported last week that there are 6 projects now planned in the middle east in partnership with a firm with close ties to the Saudi royal family:
“They always arrive at the word ‘yes,’ which is a beautiful thing,” Eric Trump said while in Dubai this past week, saying that it took only a month to get the required real estate permits from the government there. “They do it quickly.”
Gosh, I wonder why? Similarly, Don Jr is running around Eastern Europe eating pig with prime ministers and striking deals for new Trump hotels (along with Jared Kushner) in government properties — governments which have many reasons to curry favor with the American president.
But that’s not where the real action is these days. The Trump sons are heavily involved in crypto finance and are using every bit of their access to make some serious big bucks. Lipton and company have reported extensively on their play with the presidential meme coin called $TRUMP, which is basically a sad con that has resulted in a whole lot of ordinary people losing a bunch of money while Trump and a few lucky investors made a bundle. And now they’ve taken it to another level of corruption by holding an auction in which whomever buys the most coins gets to have dinner with Trump and the people at the very top get a tour of the White House. What a sweet way for some rich guys to funnel money directly into Trump’s pocket. It’s so much more convenient than a paper bag full of cash.
And then there’s the Trump crypto company World Liberty Financial. The company’s co-founders, aside from the two Trump sons, are a couple of small time entrepreneurs and the son of real estate magnate Steve Witkoff, Trump’s foreign envoy to Russia, Israel, Iran, everywhere. They have their hands in a number of different areas of the crypto world, but World Liberty is primarily trying to get a specific kind of crypto currency called a stablecoin officially recognized as a functioning part of the financial sector.
Trump called on congress to pass legislation, called the GENIUS Act, to do just that and immediately thereafter World Liberty started selling their own stable coin called USD1, and it immediately went through the roof netting the Trumps another bundle. At the time, it was assumed that the congress was going to pass the law but since the Times’ reporting, Democrats who’d been backing it balked and yesterday it failed in the Senate. The smell of Trump being both the regulator and the regulatee was just too pungent.
I expect they’ll keep trying, however. This is a huge play by the Trumps, maybe the biggest they’ve ever done, and they won’t give up. (If you’re interested in a thorough rundown of all these crypto deals, this interview with Eric Lipton by Terri Gross on NPR is very informative.)
Meanwhile, the administration has completely pulled back pretty much all regulation of the industry and stopped enforcement against a number of companies, some of which are partners of World Liberty. It’s good to have friends in high places.
Apparently, the Trumpers in D.C. have really been missing the old Trump Hotel which the family sold after they left town in 2020, so Don Jr and a few partners decided to open a private club to fill the void. For the small membership fee of $500,000 you can join “The Executive Club” and hob nob with all the Trump insiders and those who are willing to spread their cash around for access and special treatment. One member told Lipton that it’s a “safe place” for the Trump people who are not welcome in liberal Washington to gather and relax. Administration officials like David Sacks, Trump’s crypto adviser, are founding members.
There’s so much grift going on that it’s honestly hard to tell where the Trumps begin and the government ends in this term. One can only imagine what might be coming in the trade talks as companies and countries appeal to Trump for carve outs. There are already reports of countries being strong armed to buy Elon Musk’s Starlink if they want the tariffs lifted. That’s likely to be the tip of the iceberg.
This term there are no more pretenses. If you want to work with the United States of America be prepared to pay the Trump family and their associates for the privilege. Better bring your checkbook — or your crypto wallet. That’s how business is done now in the shining city on a hill.
Salon