America’s Street Huckster
The massive corrupt practices and conflicts of interest of Donald Trump have dishonored, disgraced, degraded, demeaned, debauched, and debased the Office of President of the United States.
From the beginning of his second term, Trump has seen the presidency as his personal ATM and an opportunity to enrich himself and his family. He couldn’t care less about the conflicts of interest he creates in the process.
President Trump is a classic grifter with the soul of a street huckster.
Trump Bibles. Trump gold sneakers. Trump watches, guitars, and NFTs. And, just this week, cell phones.
The Trump Organization’s online shop offers everything from $16 Trump-stamped ping-pong balls to $48 Trump candles to $200 Trump blankets.
You name it, Trump has probably tried to sell it.
Of course, Trump not only sells, he takes. The $400 million luxury jet gifted from Qatar, a violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, is headed for Trump control after he leaves office. (The jet will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to convert into Air Force One and may not even be ready until Trump leaves office, when he will take it with him.)
Trump’s most lucrative and greatest conflict of interest lies in the world of crypto.
He is both a major financial player in the crypto world and the nation’s most powerful crypto policymaker. When the crypto industry benefits from Trump policies, as they often do, Trump is likely to benefit financially from his crypto holdings as well.
Crypto holdings were reportedly, at $58 million, the second biggest source of income for Trump in 2024.
And that income is expected to skyrocket.
Trump has made about $1 billion from crypto during the last nine months, a period that started just before his election, according to Forbes. Forbes foresees “hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, more on the way.”
In 2019, President Trump was warning about crypto, calling it “highly volatile and based on thin air” and noting that these unregulated assets “can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade.”
He once said bitcoin “seems like a scam,” but in March, he announced he would make the U.S. “the undisputed Bitcoin superpower and the crypto capital of the world.”
So, what turned Trump into a crypto fan? Money. Lots of money for Trump and for his family.
Trump went so far as to auction off a White House tour in April to the highest purchasers of $TRUMP — the meme coin he hawks.
President Trump’s policies have benefited the crypto industry from the start of his second term.
In January and again in March, Trump issued executive orders to support the industry. He appointed crypto supporters to key roles, promoted the growth of stablecoins, and moved to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile.
The SEC, headed by a Trump appointee considered “crypto-friendly,” moved quickly to end its investigation into Crypto.com, closed its investigation into Robinhood Crypto, closed its civil enforcement case against Coinbase Inc. and Coinbase Global Inc., and paused its federal fraud case against Justin Sun and his company. (Sun has provided almost $100 million this year to Trump-related crypto ventures.)
The SEC ended or paused a total of at least 12 cases being pursued for cryptocurrency fraud and the Justice Department disbanded the team of prosecutors that focused on cryptocurrency crimes.
Meanwhile, Don Jr. and Eric are cashing in with what The New York Times dubs a “blitz of money-making ventures.” Among the ventures: lucrative crypto deals in the U.S. and lavish foreign projects, including a luxury hotel in Dubai and high-end real estate developments in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
All of their “deals” are happening because their father is President.
Any money the sons make that goes to the Trump Organization also financially benefits the President. And while conflict-of-interest rules for executive branch officials don’t apply to a President, that doesn’t absolve Trump of the massive conflicts posed by his business’s financial windfalls, including the benefits he earns from foreign deals being forged by his sons.
For years, Trump attacked President Joe Biden’s son Hunter for taking money from foreign interests. But now when Don Jr. and Eric wildly profit from foreign interests, it’s no problem as far as Trump is concerned.
President Trump is making a fortune from the presidency, just as dictators and authoritarians do around the world.
Trump’s “for profit” corrupt practices have fundamentally compromised our national interests and integrity, and provided yet one more example of why Trump is the worst president we have ever had.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears on Thursdays in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s and other recent newsletters here. And, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
