Trump is making a killing as president — ethical norms are among the dead

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Past presidents of both parties have recognized that the Oval Office is a public trust, not a business opportunity. President Trump has shattered that norm.

Since returning to office, he and his family have raked in more than $4 billion. Much of that comes from investments in cryptocurrency, real estate, and licensing ventures that benefit directly from President Trump’s policies.

Although the federal conflict of interest statute does not cover the president, every occupant of the White House since Watergate has recognized an ethical obligation to separate public office from personal financial interests. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush used blind trusts. Barack Obama and Joe Biden didn’t need to, because their assets consisted largely of diversified investments, pensions and book royalties.

Trump alone retained ownership of a vast business empire whose fortunes can rise or fall based on actions he takes at the helm of our government.

Although he transferred management of the Trump Organization to his sons, Trump knows which assets it owns and how his policies may affect them. He has simultaneously weakened federal government guardrails — inspectors general, ethics offices, whistleblower protections and public-integrity prosecutors — designed to ensure that public power is not used for private gain.

Trump once dismissed cryptocurrencies as a “scam.” But days before his 2025 inauguration, he launched the $TRUMP memecoin, generating more than $600 million for the Trump family. Investors lost more than $700 million. The Trumps’ broader crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, earned them an estimated $1.4 billion. Investors again suffered large losses.

Never before has a sitting president had such extensive financial interests in an industry whose regulatory environment he controls.

As the Trump family promoted crypto, the administration loosened federal oversight. The Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed or settled enforcement actions against key industry players, many with financial ties to Trump, removed crypto from its list of enforcement priorities, and reclassified many digital assets as commodities rather than securities subject to more stringent disclosure and investor protection requirements. The Department of Justice disbanded its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and cut back prosecution of crypto-related crimes.

Trump also directed regulators to facilitate crypto companies’ entry into financial services and banking, and pardoned high-profile crypto figures with financial ties to his family who had been convicted for money laundering and fraud.

Trump has found countless other ways, large and small, to enrich himself. His hotels and golf clubs attract foreign delegations, lobbyists, donors and businesses. And taxpayers have already spent more than $100 million providing security and transportation for Trump’s frequent stays at his own properties.

Wary of the constitutional restriction on foreign payments to federal officials, Trump pledged during his first term that he would make no new deals abroad. That promise has gone out the window. Trump now makes tens of millions by licensing his name to overseas projects that often require support from foreign governments eager to influence U.S. policies.

Vietnam, for example, ignored its own laws to speed approval of a $1.5 billion Trump golf development. Shortly after, the administration lowered tariffs it had threatened to impose.

Qatar gave Trump a luxury Boeing 747. Saudi Arabia invested $2 billion in the fledgling private equity firm of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. And the United Arab Emirates deposited $500 million into World Liberty Financial. A few months later, the White House granted it access to the world’s most advanced computer chips, among other benefits.

Major technology and media companies have paid Trump more than $90 million to settle specious defamation claims. Paramount paid $16 million to settle a frivolous lawsuit over its editing of a Kamala Harris interview. Three weeks later, the administration approved Paramount’s proposed merger with Skydance Media.

Last month, in what critics called “the most blatant example of presidential corruption in modern times,” Trump settled his own suit against the IRS. The settlement included a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” Trump could use to reward supporters and immunity for him and other family members from any claims the IRS might make against them. Political blowback forced Trump to abandon the fund, perhaps permanently, but not the exemption from prosecution.

It’s impossible to know whether any specific policy decision reflects greed rather than the public interest. But that is precisely the problem. When citizens cannot be confident the government is acting on their behalf, they lose faith in the political process.

Most Americans now believe Trump is corrupt and would accept a bribe if offered. Large majorities also believe corruption is “deeply embedded” in both political parties and government institutions generally.

That cynicism exacerbates political polarization, breeds apathy, and makes reform increasingly difficult.

Voters already believe by overwhelming majorities that corruption contributes to the government’s unwillingness or inability to solve pressing challenges. They support stronger federal ethics laws, including a ban on presidential conflicts of interest.

Watergate taught Americans about the dangers of presidential overreach and prompted ethics reforms intended to restore faith in the political system. Here’s hoping Trump’s brazen disregard for ethnical norms will yield another Watergate moment, in which Americans across the political spectrum demand that public officials, starting with the president, ask what they can do for their country — not what their country can do for them.

David Wippman is emeritus president of Hamilton College. Glenn C. Altschuler is The Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.