Power and money have always gone hand-in-hand. Where one goes, chances are the other will follow.
Look at the story of Midas, the legendary king of Phrygia, famous for his ‘golden touch.’ Midas was given a gift by the god Dionysus which turned everything he touched to gold. The blessing ultimately turned into a curse when King Midas was unable to even eat or drink. US politics is having its Midas moment with Donald Trump.
At Davos, Donald Trump made a series of shocking statements about Greenland, NATO and Europe. Taking pot shots at French president Emmanuel Macron’s sunglasses to confusing Greenland with Iceland it seemed Trump had singlehandedly created a conflict that could completely disrupt the existing world order.
Then by late evening on Wednesday, he announced the agreement on broad framework with NATO for a deal on Greenland. Almost immediately markets soared.
Bitcoin once again crossed $90,000. Trump had done it again.
A unique presidency
Rarely in modern American history has money appeared to flow so directly, so rapidly, and so opaquely toward a sitting president and his family as it has during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.
With the latest estimates suggesting the Trump family has earned close to $1.4 billion in just a year during his presidency, critics are questioning whether POTUS has turned his office into an extension of his business empire. A New York Times report suggests the Trump office has blurred the lines between governance and commerce, with a figure so large that it defies not just precedent but also proportion.
White House is open for business
Trump’s wealth comes from a heterogeneity of sources. From international licensing deals to real estate ventures boosted by a proximity to power. A documentary deal reportedly paid for by Amazon, with Melania Trump being the centre of focus, and most strikingly, millions of dollars tied to cryptocurrencies and speculative financial instruments. Many of them are opaque by design.
What makes this accumulation so startling and jaw-dropping is that it’s not passive wealth accumulation, instead it’s the result of a well thought out strategic decision making process which has at its core personal interests above all else.
Trump’s move to morph his social media company into a Bitcoin repository. Issuing crypto tokens bearing his name that fly up the charts then fall to dizzying lows wiping out millions of dollars. There is very little credibility left to the Trump name, but the official seal of power still gives it value in the markets.
The crypto curtain
What was once seen as shocking in Washington, has now started to feel quaint. Modern political and economic dynamics has allowed private members’ clubs being set up by Donald Trump Jr. reportedly offering proximity to policymakers in exchange for crypto tokens. Lobbying is being encoded into blockchains, routed through exchanges, under complete anonymity.
When Donald Trump vowed to be the first crypto President of the U.S.A he wasn’t just playing to the gallery, he was taking the first steps towards diversifying his family portfolio. Unlike traditional business income, crypto allows money to arrive without names, without borders, and without clear accountability. Much of the crypto-linked incomes appears to originate overseas. The source and the purpose remain undefined. This alone should be enough to raise alarms in a system that relies on transparency to guard against foreign influence.
There is one deal, in particular, which crystallizes the problem. A $2 billion investment routed through Trump-branded cryptocurrency. An untested, and largely worthless digital asset that few rational investors would otherwise choose. That decision alone reportedly placed between $80 million and $200 million annually into Trump-affiliated pockets within months.
Soon after, longstanding U.S. policy was reversed and restrictions on certain computer chip exports, previously blocked due to national security concerns, were lifted.
Not long after, a key crypto figure was pardoned by Trump.
The cost to institutions
Trump’s actions don’t take place in a vacuum. These financial flows intersect with U.S. policy, very often those which directly impact foreign trade, and internal security. Countries doing business with the Trump family are very often the same countries negotiating with the United States government. The line between personal enrichment and national interest grows blurred by the day.
The question no longer is whether this is unprecedented, because it is. The question is what it does to the long term credibility of democratic institutions within the U.S. when the presidency becomes a driver for personal wealth.
The most shocking development perhaps, is the mainstreaming of this internalising of profit and policy. For decades, norms served as guardrails.
Divestment.
Blind trusts.
Disclosure.
Trump made no secret in his first term that he had little regard for them. In his second he has binned them altogether.
This is a historic moment in U.S. Presidency
History happens a second at a time. It’s defined by moments, which become periods. These periods then get represented as symbols.
Watergate became shorthand for abuse of power. Teapot Dome for corruption.
This period may one day be remembered as the moment when the machinery of the state and the mechanics of personal profit fused together publicly, and unapologetically. The scale of the money involved makes it especially consequential when it comes to laying down a moral code. The message it sends for the highest levels of public policy is unprecedented. The presidency is not merely a public trust, but a platform that wields a particular influence which can now be monetized.