$Trump Cashes In
Trump is ripping us off every single day.
David Budbill’s poem “The Three Goals” sits on the shelf of my life’s seminal texts. I’ve wondered what a more explicitly political version might look like. Here’s my draft for today:
The first goal is to see the thing in itself in and for itself, to see it simply and clearly for what it is. No focus groups, polls, or whatabouts, please. The second goal is to see the thing with all the other ten thousand things, in front of all the millions of people. In this regard, honest friends and dishonest commentators help a lot. The third goal is to grasp the first and the second goals, to see the thing with integrity and agency, but also through the Lens of hard political and public relations reality. Regarding this one, run for office when you get it.
I went back to “The Three Goals” as I sat down to write this newsletter about the way President Donald Trump and his friends and family are profiting from their public service power. Does it matter? When open corruption was a hallmark of his first campaign, his time out of office, and his second campaign, is it even worth discussing now?
The First Goal: See it Simply and Clearly For What It Is
Let’s catalog the ways that the President and his family and friends are making money from his presidency in this extremely incomplete list:
Paying his own properties: Using data reported by the Trump campaign to the Federal Election Commission, OpenSecrets has compiled a tracker to show the flow of over $38 million from the Trump campaign, related committees, and Republican Party entities and candidates to Trump properties. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is tracking Trump’s visits to his own properties as president. In his first 101 days as president, Trump made 66 visits to his own properties (33 of those were golf course visits). Members of the Cabinet have visited Trump properties 19 times, state government officials 8 times, and foreign government officials 14 times.
Don’t call them emoluments: Last January, House Democrats on the Oversight Committee compiled a report showing that in two years of his first presidency, Trump’s businesses collected over $7.8 million from officials and governments of 20 different countries. That’s on the very low end of estimates from various watchdog groups.
Melania goes all in: When Jeff Bezos visited Mar-a-Lago, shortly before the inauguration, Melania Trump used a dinner opportunity to share her vision for a documentary about her life. Her team had been shopping it prior to the dinner. Amazon agreed to pay $40 million to license it, which Rebecca Ballhaus reports is the most Amazon has ever spent on a documentary and was almost three times the next closest offer her agent had received. Her team has also shopped “sponsorships” for the documentary that would play in the credits.
#Settlements: Meta has paid $25 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a legal dispute most experts believed was frivolous. Elon Musk settled Trump’s case against Twitter for $10 million paid to Trump personally.
Cashing in on Crypto: In January (3 days before he was sworn in), Trump launched $Trump, a meme coin. A meme coin is about what it sounds like -- a digital token that lives in a blockchain but that’s based on something likely to go viral. Their value is just in the popularity of trading them. Think Pokemon cards or Beanie Babies but without the raw materials. Its value shot up from $7 to about $75 per coin but quickly dropped to $40. No worries--that same day, $Melania launched. And there’s room for everyone to get in on the fun: the pastor from Trump’s inauguration launched $Lorenzo. Meme coins are fads. Often, creators make them, hold them while the value soars, then dump them, plunging the value. But Trump has reasons to try to keep the value of $Trump up. What a way for people to show their loyalty and love for their favorite president! In late April, Trump offered the top 220 holders of $Trump to “an intimate private dinner” where they could hear “close-up, from President Trump, about the future of Crypto!” By the way, Trump owns entities that profit from trading the coins. Every time the coins are traded, they take a small fee. According to Wired magazine, Trump-affiliated organizations made over a million dollars in the 24 hours after his “intimate dinner” offer.
Regulate Your Own Industry: A Trump family entity owns World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm, which, according to the New York Times, makes “Mr. Trump…now not only a major crypto dealer; he is also the industry’s top policy maker.” World Liberty Financial is doing deals all over the world, including a recently announced deal to promote blockchain adoption in Pakistan and a $2 billion deal in UAE.
Tariffs and Trades: Senator Elizabeth Warren has questions about the way the President is using tariffs to potentially enrich “his billionaire buddies.” Right before he paused tariffs, he posted on social media “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY.” She would like an independent investigation into market manipulation.
Selling Access: Don Jr. and Omeed Malik, a Trump “megadonor,” have joined with other investors (including David Sacks, the Winklevoss brothers, and Chamath Palihapitiya) to launch the “Executive Branch,” an invitation-only club in Georgetown. The invitation? Spend $500,000 just to join and get in the room with Trump family members, friends, and officials. Politico reports that the club already has a waitlist.
Always with the hats: For only $50, you can own a Trump 2028 hat. Give a boost to the President and a middle finger to the Constitution all at once.
The Second Goal: See it Politically
For those of us who have always been hard nos on Donald Trump as President, it can be easy to believe that Nothing Matters™. After all, I just listed ways Trump profited from his first term in office, openly, right in front of God and taxpayers, and he was re-elected.
But as Wiletta put it in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, “sooner or later, everybody’s bill comes due.” While some of MAGA flocked to purchase $Trump, others were appalled. Many of those who bought lost big.
Elon Musk’s popularity is plunging right alongside the President’s, and that’s just after 100 days of firing people like it’s a hobby, cutting government funds for food kitchens, and, oops!, accidentally spending more in the process.
I don’t think opponents of Trumpism should spend all of our time making Trump himself out to be the devil. But I do think that we shouldn’t hesitate to ensure the public is aware that Trump is ripping us off in a variety of increasingly sophisticated ways every single day.
And if the impacts of Trump’s tariffs come to pass…if there are empty shelves at Walmart while the “Executive Branch” is hopping…I think that’s worth highlighting.
The Third Goal: See Both at the Same Time
I have a long list of things I’m rethinking during Trump II. One item on that agenda is seeing Trump as a singular figure. While he’s unique in many ways, I don’t think he’s as special as I’ve told myself he is. In part, this requires me to acknowledge that he’s not the first or the last person to profit from office. That’s why hardcore Trump supporters can blow it off. Maybe officeholders who do it to a much lesser degree (and their supporters) comfort themselves by the brazenness and scale at which Trump operates. But it’s not unique.
If we see this behavior for what it is and in the light of brutal politics at the same time, it counsels us to clean up our houses, wherever they are and whatever condition they’re in. We need zero tolerance in either party for what Trump is doing, for the kind of activity that Senator Bob Menendez apparently engaged in for years, for the insider trading that Congress has given lip service to regulating but seems to continue. We need states, city councils, and mayors’ offices to operate with unimpeachable accountability. To make the case against corruption to the public in a meaningful way, hypocrisy has to come off the table.
There’s so much good work to do. We need Congress to clarify what constitutes an emolument, who is empowered to enforce the Emoluments Clause, and how that enforcement process works. Then we need courts to rigorously oversee those actions. We need Congress, through oversight and perhaps new legislation, to ensure that the Freedom of Information Act is a living, breathing tool against corruption. It all sounds dry and boring; we are hard-wired to distrust “the public” and its ability to care about good governance. But we’re about to see a potent mixture. Trump’s grift and graft combined with his stick-it-to-the-small-guys policies might create an opportunity to ultimately combat cynicism and do government better for generations to come.
Run for office if you get it.
We live in a big and interconnected world. We have been focused on domestic news on Pantsuit Politics this week, so we wanted to be sure you saw Sarah’s update on the increasing tensions at the border between Pakistan and India from Good Morning.
Good morning to Kashmir
Exclusive-Pakistan defence minister says military incursion by India is imminent
If you’re looking for a treat for your mom (or if your mom forwarded you this email), be sure to check out our Mother’s Day Gift guide to share a video message from Sarah and Beth, our new merchandise, or one of Sarah and Beth’s books Mother’s Day!
Something Nice to Take You Into the Weekend
Beth mentioned this Book Brigade in her recent episode More to Say About Creative Problem Solving, and we wanted to be sure you could see it!
What We’re Reading and Listening To This Week
You all shared what you were reading in our chat this week, and my TBR list is now 10 miles long. Thank you!
Don’t forget! We’re sharing the second episode in our Habits of the Heart Slow Read next Wednesday on More to Say.
Habits of the Heart: Introductory
We’re kicking off our slow read of Habits of the Heart! Sarah and Beth are together to discuss the introductory. They imagine where the authors would push them and investigate what the mean of “the pursuit of happiness” was to the founders in comparison to how we define it now.
Alise: Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
Maggie: Poetry Challenge: Memorize “Recuerdo” by Edna St. Vincent Millay (The New York Times)
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It's the only thing he's good at after a lifetime of practice!
I just wanted to say I loved the exhale on today's show about photography. I created a photo book for each year and have since my 12 year old was born. I always make sure to include mundane moments and special ones too. It's one of the most rewarding things I do.