Trump's $2bn windfall from business ventures
Donald Trump's businesses have generated more than $2bn 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, and Bibles. The scale of profit marks an unprecedented transformation of the American presidency into a moneymaking enterprise.
Tom Burgis reports that Trump's ability to monetize public office raises concerns about a breakdown of ethical norms, not only in the US but across the western world. From Clacton to Queensland, a new type of leader—the political grifter—is emerging.
Nigel Farage's crypto millions and perks
Nigel Farage has become the best-paid MP at Westminster while maintaining an image as a champion of downtrodden Britons. He takes flights on private jets of billionaire benefactors and has promoted dubious crypto schemes. Farage faces two investigations: one into lobbying the Bank of England to drop a cryptocurrency plan that could benefit his donor Christopher Harborne, and another into his failure to declare a £5m personal gift from Harborne. Farage has said, “It's not the public's business.”
Erosion of ethical code
Tutu Alicante, a human rights lawyer and kleptocracy expert, notes: “For decades, there was an implicit understanding that using public office for personal enrichment carried political and reputational risks. That restraint appears to be eroding.” Alicante warns of echoes from Equatorial Guinea, where “corruption has become aspirational.”
Cryptocurrency and conflicts of interest
Trump's crypto ventures include a meme coin that generated $635m, despite many buyers losing money when the price plunged. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren denounced “brazen crypto corruption.” A three-way transaction involving Trump's World Liberty Financial, the UAE, and a convicted crypto kingpin saw $500m flow to Trump's company, with the UAE gaining access to powerful AI chips and the kingpin receiving a pardon. The White House maintains that “neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest.”
Voter embrace of grifters
Anne Applebaum, historian and author of Autocracy, Inc, explains that followers of corrupt leaders either don't know about corruption due to information bubbles or see leaders as “ours.” Nationalists like Trump and Farage generate loyalty while stoking nativism. In Australia, Pauline Hanson demands a “monocultural” society while flaunting perks from donors.
Duncan Hames of Transparency International UK says: “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.”
Global implications
Tom Keatinge of Rusi thinktank warns: “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?”
