Profiting from the Presidency

President Trump Has Pocketed $1,408,500,000, after assuming the Presidency in 2025

The New York times reported (2/11/26) just how Mr. Trump has personally profited from his return to the Presidency, and so far an amount of money equal to 16,822 times the median U.S. household income.

A culture of corruption is pernicious because it is not only a deviation from government in the public interest; it is also the destruction of the state’s democratic legitimacy. It undermines the necessary faith that the representatives of the people are acting in the interest of the people.

• Aristotle, writing more than 2,000 years ago, saw clearly and warned that a government whose leaders worked to enrich themselves might still call itself a republic, and might still go through the motions, but when the aim of government shifts from public good to private gain, its constitution becomes an empty shell. The government is no longer for the people.

• In a complete contrast to Trump’s second presidential term, I am reminded of the famous quote from John F. Kennedy’s January 20, 1961, inaugural address, which rings truer today that ever before; “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country”.  At the time, it served as a call to action for civic responsibility, inspiring public service and the “New Frontier”.   President Trump has never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him.

Taking from the lessons of his round as President, Trump today has poured his energy and creativity into the exploitation of the presidency — and into finding out just how much money people, corporations and other nations are willing to put into his pockets in hopes of bending the power of the government to the service of their interests.

Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion; an underestimate as his profits remain hidden from public view

President Trump has never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him.

He has poured his energy and creativity into the exploitation of the presidency — into finding out just how much money people, corporations and other nations are willing to put into his pockets in hopes of bending the power of the government to the service of their interests.

A review by the NYT editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.

A hotel in Oman. An office tower in western India. A golf course on the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These are a few of the more than 20 overseas projects the Trump Organization is pursuing, often requiring cooperation with foreign governments. These deals have made millions for the Trumps, according to Reuters. And the administration has sometimes treated those same governments favorably.

Examples of Graft and Corruption

The Trump administration recently agreed to lower its threatened tariffs on Vietnam about a month after a Trump Organization project broke ground on a $1.5 billion golf complex outside of Hanoi. Vietnamese officials ignored their own laws to fast-track the project.

Mr. Trump’s sale of crypto has been by far his biggest moneymaker, according to Reuters. People who hope to influence federal policy, including foreigners, can buy his family’s coins, effectively transferring money to the Trumps, and the deals are often secret.

One example that has become public: A United Arab Emirates-backed investment firm announced plans last year to deposit $2 billion into a Trump firm — two weeks before the president gave the country access to advanced chips.

Qatar gave Mr. Trump a billion dollar customized Boeing 747 jet that he will use as Air Force One while president and plans to take with him after leaving office. Mr. Trump seemed to acknowledge that the gift would influence his treatment of Qatar. “We are going to protect this country,” he said in Doha shortly after Qatar offered the plane.

Mr. Trump’s hunger for wealth is brazen. Throughout the nation’s history, presidents of both parties have taken care to avoid even the appearance of profiting from public service. This president gleefully squeezes American corporations, flaunts gifts from foreign governments and celebrates the rapid growth of his own fortune.

When President Harry Truman left office in 1953, he did not even own a car. He and his wife returned to Missouri by train and lived for a time on his Army pension. He refused to take any job that he regarded as commercializing his public service, explaining, “I knew that they were not interested in hiring Harry Truman, the person, but what they wanted to hire was the former president of the United States.” Mr. Trump has said that when he leaves office, he plans to take with him a $400 million Boeing 747 that was a gift from Qatar, and to display it at his presidential library.

This tally focuses on Mr. Trump’s documented gains. The $1.4 billion figure is a minimum, not a full accounting. It is probable that Mr. Trump has collected several hundred million dollars in additional profits from his cryptocurrency ventures over the past year. The Trumps have acknowledged as much. When The Financial Times asked Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, about its estimated value of the family’s crypto gains, he said they were probably even larger than the news organization thought.

Major tech and media companies have also paid Mr. Trump $90.5 million in settlements since his re-election, and since have curtailed their reporting of Trump malfeasance.