If one theme has emerged in President Donald Trump’s second term, it’s this: He’s leveraged the power of his office for personal gain unlike anyone before in history.
From crypto coins to bibles, overseas development deals to an upcoming line of cellphones, Trump family businesses have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars since his election, an unprecedented flood of often shadowy money from billionaires, foreign governments and cryptocurrency tycoons with interests before the federal government.
“He is president and is supposed to be working in the public’s interest,” said James Thurber, an emeritus professor at American University, who has researched lobbying, campaign finance and political corruption for decades. “Instead, he is helping his own personal interest to grow his wealth. It’s totally not normal.”
The sums amassed by the Trump Organization, the collection of companies controlled by the president’s children, are far greater than those collected by the family during the president’s first term, when patronage of his hotels, resorts and golf courses was de rigueur to curry favor with the famously transactional commander-in-chief.
The second time around, the Trump family’s ambitions are far grander, stretching from cyberspace to far-flung regions across the globe. One of Trump’s cryptocurrencies is conservatively estimated to have pulled in at least $320 million since January, while another received a $2 billion investment from a foreign government wealth fund. A third has sold at least $550 million in tokens.
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