Donald Trump and his family reportedly accumulated an estimated $4 billion in the first year of the president's second term. This vast sum, tallied by The New Yorker, was extracted through a range of ventures including branded sneakers, Bibles, guitars, and his social media company Truth Social. It also included settlements from lawsuits against the press, social media companies, and gifts from foreign countries, such as a luxury jet from Qatar destined for his presidential library. Hospitality deals, increased Mar-a-Lago resort fees, his children's private equity and crypto deals, Trump Media's bitcoin holdings, and the TRUMP meme coin all contributed to this capital flight.
Capital's Haul
Good governance watchdog groups have cataloged a litany of apparent corruption and conflict of interest incidents during Trump's second term. These include a settlement between Trump and his own government, which prevents the IRS from auditing the Trump family. High-dollar stock trades of companies directly involved in administration policy and outside cryptocurrency ventures have also dramatically increased his net worth. Trump told The New York Times in January that he made no effort to limit his family business ventures this term because he “found out that nobody cared.” He added, “I prohibited [my children] from doing business in my first term, and I got absolutely no credit for it.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Judiciary committee, told NPR in May that “every part of the government has been prostituted and co-opted for moneymaking purposes.” He stated, “The president made more than a billion dollars in his first year in office,” asserting, “There's nothing remotely comparable to that in all of American history.” Vice President Vance, speaking in June at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, downplayed historical corruption, saying, “If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.” Rep. Raskin offered a different perspective in May, telling NPR, “Watergate was like a Cub Scout prank compared to what we're living through.”
The State's Design
Nearly all voters, 90% of Republicans and 93% of both Democrats and independents, say corruption is a big problem in American politics, according to recent polling by the Brennan Center for Justice. Marina Pino, an attorney with the organization's Elections and Government Program, noted that Americans see corruption as “an embedded structural problem.” She explained, “Part of this is this perception that the government is primarily working for the ultra wealthy and the well-connected.” Eighty-eight percent of voters connect corruption directly to the “big problems that our government has failed to solve,” such as the high cost of living.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., told a Savannah rally crowd in June that “American politics is coin operated. Money goes in, favors come out.” He claimed, “The Mar-a-Lago Mafia has taken American corruption to spectacular new heights. But corruption in America runs a lot deeper than Donald Trump.” Since President Trump first took office in 2017, Democratic lawmakers have attempted to make his financial and foreign entanglements a key issue, with limited success outside their base voters. Lately, some Democrats have expanded their message, arguing that corruption extends beyond the president to the entire U.S. political system.
Managing Discontent
NPR observed two focus groups of swing voters in Pennsylvania earlier this month. Half of the 12 participants were “troubled” by the president's earnings, while the other half dismissed it. One participant, Todd A., remarked, “When it comes to ethics, moral and financial, I think that just about every politician is corrupt. So, the fact that he's a known huckster, I mean, we've known that for years about him.”
In response to public discontent, various reform proposals have emerged. Rep. Raskin has proposed legislation that seeks to prevent the president from profiting off foreign influence or public office and from accepting payments from pardon recipients. Paige Cognetti, a Democratic House candidate and current mayor of Scranton, has an eight-point anti-corruption proposal. Her plan includes a prohibition on congressional stock trades, a ban on former lawmakers becoming lobbyists, and term limits for members of Congress and Supreme Court justices. Cognetti stated that if Congress can implement these reforms, “then we can get to the actual substance of reforming our healthcare system, reforming our education system, making sure that everyone has a fair shot and that we have true economic opportunity for people all across the country.”
These reform proposals have been Democratic priorities for years, gaining new traction this campaign season alongside the party's focus on affordability. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced another new initiative last week. Some Republican campaigns are also embracing an anti-corruption message. House Republicans have conducted investigations into alleged abuses of social safety net programs and advanced legislation to curtail fraudulent abuses of federal spending. House Republican lawmakers also advanced limited restrictions on stock trading and ownership last week.
However, the political class continues to operate within a system that facilitates wealth accumulation. Bernadette Breslin, national press secretary at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, criticized Sen. Ossoff, stating, “Jon Ossoff claims the moral high ground while cashing checks from the very 'Epstein class' billionaires he condemns — proving his so-called fight against corruption is nothing more than a campaign talking point.” Ossoff's campaign has received donations from billionaires at the legal maximum contribution limit of $7,000 and is supported by the national Senate Majority PAC, which accepts uncapped donations. Republican operatives have also levied corruption allegations against Democratic candidates, including Cognetti, whose campaign denies wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors have accused Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, of accepting roughly $600,000 in bribes. Former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., resigned this year after being charged with theft by federal prosecutors. Both have denied wrongdoing.