Donald Trump made more than $2 billion from his businesses in the first year of his second presidency, according to his latest financial disclosure. This includes revenue from Trump hotels, golf courses, cryptocurrency, watches, cologne, Bibles, and more. The disclosure, published this week, indicates Trump has transformed the American presidency into a moneymaking enterprise on an unprecedented scale.
Political grifters on the rise
Across the western world, a new type of leader is emerging: the political grifter. Nigel Farage has become the best-paid MP at Westminster while maintaining an image as a champion of ordinary Britons. He takes flights on private jets of a billionaire benefactor, as does Australian populist Pauline Hanson, who has repeatedly breached rules on declaring them.
“For decades, there was an implicit understanding that using public office for personal enrichment carried political and reputational risks,” said Tutu Alicante, a human rights lawyer and kleptocracy expert. “That restraint appears to be eroding.” Alicante, based in the US, added: “What feels different today is the brazenness.”
Cryptocurrency and corruption
Trump launched his own meme coin upon returning to the White House, despite once calling crypto a scam. Many buyers lost money when the price plunged, but Trump’s disclosure shows he made $635 million from it. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren denounced this as “brazen crypto corruption,” alleging the Trump crypto ventures are a way to buy political favours.
One controversial deal involved Trump’s crypto company World Liberty Financial, the UAE, and a convicted crypto kingpin. $500 million of Emirati money flowed to the Trump company, the UAE gained access to powerful AI chips, and the crypto kingpin received a pardon. Those involved say it was legitimate business. The White House stated: “Neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest.”
Farage under investigation
Nigel Farage faces two investigations into his relationship with Thailand-based crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne, who has given Farage’s Reform UK and its predecessor two-thirds of their funding. Labour urged the standards watchdog to look into whether Farage broke parliamentary rules by lobbying the Bank of England to drop a cryptocurrency plan that could cost Harborne. The watchdog is already investigating Farage’s failure to declare a £5 million personal gift from Harborne. Farage has said: “It’s not the public’s business.”
Erosion of ethical norms
Transparency International’s latest survey shows the US, UK, Canada, and France recorded their lowest scores on public perception of corruption since 2012. Duncan Hames, head of policy at Transparency International UK, said: “We’re seeing a concentration of wealth and power on a scale unprecedented in modern history. There’s a growing risk of state capture through extreme wealth and advanced technologies.”
Historian Anne Applebaum, author of Autocracy, Inc., noted that many voters embrace grifters because “societies with long traditions of the rule of law have been transformed by tribal politics.” She explained: “The followers of corrupt leaders either don’t know about corruption or don’t care, because they see their leaders as ‘ours’. If they are stealing money, then somehow it’s ‘our’ money.”
Global implications
Tom Keatinge of the Centre for Finance and Security at Rusi thinktank in London said: “We should be looking across the Atlantic and saying: Could our system resist the kind of capture that the Trump administration has achieved in the States?”
Trump’s ability to profit far exceeds that of fellow grifters, in proportion to his power. His loyalists in Congress, the justice department, and watchdogs have cowed institutions that should uphold probity. The phenomenon is not limited to the US; from Clacton to Queensland, voters appear prepared to reward leaders who brazenly monetise public office.
