Donald Trump’s use of his second presidency to grow his personal fortune has alarmed legal and ethics experts and congressional Democrats as he has reaped an “unprecedented” $2.2bn in 2025 revenues by amassing big cryptocurrency holdings, benefiting from wealthy foreign interests, expanding his Truth Social business and more, while federal oversight of his actions has waned.

Trump last year raked in at least $1.4bn from his crypto ventures according to financial disclosure forms he filed in June. Simultaneously, about one million investors in a Trump crypto scheme suffered almost $3.8bn in losses as their volatile crypto holdings tanked in value.

Monetizing his presidency further this summer, Trump’s Truth Social media business is pushing a new scheme that offers wealthy buyers special early access to his posts for a fee of $100,000 a month, which top Democrats and public interest groups say pose serious conflict of interest and corruption issues.

This is some of why at least some Americans probably wish the Iran plot succeeded

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    I mean . . . Yeah. We know. We’ve been watching it happen every goddamned day.

    Thanks for the reminder Guardian. Maybe you could name and shame a little more? It’s not happening magically. People with names and institutions are doing this corruption, so. Map it out. kthx.

      • danc4498@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        They only trust the news that reports the things they want to hear.

        I think there’s others that think the things he does for the country are good. And they take the good with the bad. Like lowering taxes (even though mostly the rich benefitted from that). Or whatever the fuck DOGE claimed to do. Or brain worm measles you.

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      15 days ago

      They believe that everyone does it, and that Trump is just better at it.

      That’s why if you point out something corrupt they point to someone else who the think did something corrupt, instead of saying both should be investigated and punished if actually guilty.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Exactly: “Hunter Biden and his laptop! And Hunter sold art, can you even believe it? Hillary’s emails! Bill Clinton gets speaking fees, how is that even possible?”

        • artyom@piefed.social
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          15 days ago

          Lol remember when Hillary’s emails was this years-long scandal? And we just rolled over Signalgate in a couple weeks.

        • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          15 days ago

          Yeah the problem I have with it is I can’t tell how many of them are just excusing peoples crimes because others commit crimes or excusing their crimes because they would do the same thing if they could, and point to others doing potentially other crimes as a “well anyone would do it” type of shit. ,

    • jaaake@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      “Look at what a good businessman he is!”

      “If it was actually illegal, he’d be in prison!”

      “He’s so savvy to not pay for things when payment is due. Why would you pay if you didn’t have to?”

      “He’s made more money while president than any other president because he’s the first non-politician president.”

      • Malyca@lemmy.zip
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        15 days ago

        My personal favorite: “he donates his salary, that proves he isn’t in it to make money. That’s why we elected him!”

  • leadore@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    And that $2.2B is just what he reported on his taxes–i.e. the technically legal income.

    • Madison420@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Well yes and also it doesn’t include the money his family has made from deals made after he got office. It’s on the order of 5bil+.

    • Insekticus@aussie.zone
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      15 days ago

      Don’t forget to take every last cent the family has. Literally leave them with nothing as punishment.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Agreed. Because they are not likely to serve full sentences; they should have to come out and live as paupers.

    • osanna@lemmy.vg
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      14 days ago

      And then to die while in prison. He has to KNOW he lost. It’s not enough for him to just die. He needs to die in PRISON

  • lukaro@lemmy.zip
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    15 days ago

    Wishing tons of non viloent misfurtunes to happen to all republicans.

      • lukaro@lemmy.zip
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        15 days ago

        I’m talking stuff like having bad diarrhea and a sneezing fit while stuck in traffic. Or forever having one cent less than the purchase they’re trying to make. Getting comfortable in bed starting to drift off to sleep then suddenly having to piss. Every poop is a splasher. That kinda of stuff.

        • AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social
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          15 days ago

          And I’m talking about being confused for an inmigrant by ICE and consequently beaten/shot to death. Or involved in a violent arrest by the police and consequently beaten/shot to death, or simply caught in a road rage incident with a fellow republican nazi and consequently beaten/shot to death. That kinda stuff.

          • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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            15 days ago

            Or chased down and eaten by large reptiles? Not that you would know anything about that…

          • LostCarcosan@lemmy.today
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            15 days ago

            Or needing a simple yet life saving drug/procedure done but their insuranc refuses to pay for it and they die slowly and painfully. Or get hit by a car and break their neck leading them to live the rest of their ‘life’ unable to move or communicate

  • moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com
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    14 days ago

    an “unprecedented” $2.2bn in 2025 revenues by…expanding his Truth Social business and more

    What? How does that make money? Is he selling sugar pills that claim to make your penis bigger or sth?

    Edit:

    Canter added that “Trump is increasingly dependent on the presidency to generate business profits since his media company has been losing money over the past several quarters.”

    Trump Media & Technology, the company behind the Truth Social platform, on 10 August announced it lost a whopping $238m in the three months through June as it branched out into new businesses including crypto.

    Oh, that sounds more correct

      • dermanus@lemmy.ca
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        14 days ago

        “You too can enjoy the same insider access as Barron Trump for the low, low price of $100,000 a month!”

  • the_q@piefed.social
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    15 days ago

    We could end this in a few weeks if we acted. Everyone wants to hold on to what little they have instead of losing it for a better future.

    • DuncanTheDrunk@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      I believe part of the issue is that in addition to the regulatory system being captured, the media has been as well. Sure there are some late night shows poking fun, but major news networks are being bought up one after another.

      It’s difficult to organize when half the news pretends this is normal and the other half openly celebrates this degradation of our systems. Unfortunately I fear things will get worse before they get better.

    • thethrilloftime69@feddit.online
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      15 days ago

      People will die. People have kids they need to raise. People have parents they need to take care of. If we burn the system down, all that is over. Your hopes of a good life in your lifetime end with revolution. You basically have to sacrifice an entire generation to burn this system down. Maybe we’ll get there soon, but people are still hoping to make it to the other side in one piece.

      • green_link@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        we sacrificed an entire generation stopping nazis before. we can do it again. they didn’t sacrifice their lives for the rest of us years later to let these fascists rise up again. if they were still here, they’d be standing right up front, ready to do it again.

      • ViceroTempus@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        You’re not wrong in a lot of ways, however that just means we’re kicking the can down the road, and allowing the atrocities going on in our backyards to continue.

        Feels irresponsible and lacks empathy to me.

      • BenLeMan@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Yeah, let’s make our kids figure this out. It’s not like they’ll be kind of busy dealing with global warming and all those other nice challenges we’ve left them.

      • kestrel7_7@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        Your hopes of a good life in your lifetime end with revolution.

        I strongly disagree. My life is already pretty fucked up and doesn’t seem like it’ll be getting better without some massive political changes.

  • moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com
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    14 days ago

    Likewise some analysts are troubled by how Trump has circumvented the constitution’s prohibition on foreign emoluments by accepting a $400m plane as a gift from Qatar, and how other wealthy foreigners have backed some Trump family hotel and golf deals abroad.

    Doesn’t the constitution ban all emoluments?

    Or is this just saying that the other reps are only outraged by accepting foreign bribes, because they all accept domestic bribes…

  • Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    15 days ago

    And what’s he even going to do with it? Dude is a walking caricature of American diet related health problems, in his 80s. Beyond the fact that so many groups would love to take a shot at him, he’s pretty likely to take himself out within the next few years anyway.

    So what’s the point of getting absurdly rich? You can’t take it with you, and he very obviously only cares about himself, so he isn’t doing it for his family.

    • resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe
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      15 days ago

      My father was a malignant narcissist.

      They do live through their children. Not in any sort of nice, generous way. But they try to clone themselves via their offspring. Look like me, follow in my professional footsteps, have the same opinions about everything.

      • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        14 days ago

        Know that well myself. Once I started deviating from his attempts to groom me to be like him he dropped me like a buncha rocks. When I asked for a modicum of help because of money troubles he laughed in my face. The man is dead now and my only regrets are I weren’t involved in some way and it was quietly in his motherfucking sleep.

        • resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe
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          14 days ago

          Interesting.

          When I cottoned-on to the fact that my father was a completely selfish user of others and went no-contact at 14, he never gave up on grooming me as his “heir.”

          Treated my younger brother, who worshiped the ground he waked on, like absolute shit.

          I’d feel bad for my brother if he weren’t arguably even more vile.

          Wish I could have ended the bloodline by not having kids but my brother had kids with an equally vile woman. We will find out if narcissism is inherited soon.

          Maybe it cancels-out with two narcissistic parents.

    • skvlp@feddit.nl
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      15 days ago

      I think he’s talked about building a dynasty a few times, and that might be part of it. If he is the origin of a dynasty he probably thinks the world will se him as a god or some delulu shit. His interest in building monuments all over Washington also seem to paint a similar picture.

    • Sunflier@lemmy.worldOP
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      15 days ago

      My guess?

      He’s looking to make his descendants so rich that they can become America’s royal family with the precedent he’s trying to set up combined with the effect that wealth has for buying the government.

      • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        14 days ago

        He has talked a fair bit about god, religion, and heaven recently. I wonder if he’s taking the prosperity gospel to such heart that he thinks he needs MORE things to get into heaven.

  • Jumi@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Many Americans seem to be fine with that, must be some kind of national kink.

  • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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    14 days ago

    There is no need to stress. The next Democratic President will issue blanket pardons, will no do investigations, or Presidential Commissions, or anything that sort.

    The Epstein Class always protects each other.

    • InputZero@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      “Now is the time for unity, and to forgive our neighbors” Says every Democrat after a Republican president.

      “The Democrats are all antifa-terrorists and should be rounded up into a camp.” Says every Republican after a Democratic president.

      • zbyte64@awful.systems
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        14 days ago

        A bellwether is whether the politician supports abolishing ICE. If they are willing to uproot institutions then that includes presidential immunity.

    • Yuccagnocchiyaki@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      Sorry, no they won’t. They will be constrained by technicalities and obscure parliamentarian positions that we never heard of until a key issue.

      However, they will have new tech and immunity to attack the progressive left. That won’t be an issue at all

  • inmate_p01135809@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    He has set the precedent that presidents and their families can not only continue to run businesses while in office, but make governing decisions that lead to profit for those businesses. Oh, and getting payments for advertisements from the Resolute desk, and putting up paid advertisements on government property. Oh, and punish federal funding to states, companies, Universities, etc. for not following his executive orders, which are not laws, but are being treated as such.

    The only way to remedy this, I figure, is to have a democrat in office do every. single. thing. he is doing in office, until each thing has a law created by the other branches of government to make it illegal going forward.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      The only way to remedy this, I figure, is to have a democrat in office do every. single. thing. he is doing in office

      If you think Ritchie Torres, Elissa Slotkin, and Pete Buttigieg are going to save the county, you’re going to be very disappointed.

      • Soup@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        They’re saying that no one will make a law against a Republican, but Republicans may make laws against Democrats. Of course, that also won’t happen if it means the GOP can continue to score bitching points with their base while also profitting, but still.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          14 days ago

          the GOP can continue to score bitching points with their base

          The joke of the last 30 years has been the GOP crying “The media is against us!” through louder and larger corporate media megaphones with every passing election cycle.

          But the punchline is that bitching about the media being mean is now a central function of federal government. Nothing fucking works because all the top leadership positions are occupied by professional whiners.