This would all be so comical if it weren’t so disgusting and self-aggrandizing. Donald Trump, the guy who bestowed us with Sneaky Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, Robert (who’s afraid of the water) Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department, and Linda (Turkey Neck) McMahon to dissemble our federal Education Department, has finally done a few things to reward himself. And with his actions, it proves that he is as dangerous in the air as he is on the ground.
Yes, old Donald could never remain content with destroying Congressionally funded agencies, deporting non-citizens, and citizens with no legal protections. Or suing every law firm or media outlet that dares to utter a word of dissent to the almighty Trump. Now he has found more creative ways to laugh at America and ignore the Constitution, memecoins, and a Qatar airplane? We’re going to have to unravel all of this before we move on.
Trump’s in the Coin Business
Only Donald Trump could sell a completely worthless coin and make a fortune off of it. The trick this time is that the purchasers are complicit in the deal. The president launched his memecoin, TRUMP, on January 17 of this year, just days before his inauguration. Since the coin was launched, it has netted more than $320 million in fees for its creators, according to Chainalysis. And as sales started to drop off, Trump offered, through an auction, 220 holders of the coin a private dinner with the president at one of his golf resorts, which made the sale of the coin skyrocket, bringing in an estimated $900,000 in trading fees.
The auction, which ended Monday, sparked bipartisan criticism, which some said left the president open to opportunities to influence him corruptly. Some of the buyers have said they bought the coins and entered the auction with the intent of persuading Mr. Trump to take a specific action that would affect United States policy. There are limits on any president who undertakes such an action through a provision in the Constitution that makes it an impeachable offense for a president to accept a bribe.
And the Trump family is heavily involved in the cryptocurrency business. President Trump and his sons have started a crypto firm, World Liberty Financial (WLF), which offers its own digital coin. And a subsidiary of WLF run by Trump’s son Eric, American Bitcoin, announced on Monday that it would become publicly traded after merging with a Nasdaq-traded company, Gryphon Digital Mining Inc. This raises more conflict-of-interest red flags for the president due to the federal government’s role in regulating the cryptocurrency industry.
Fly Trump Air
On Monday, before leaving on a diplomatic tour of the Middle East, it was announced that President Donald Trump planned to accept a $300 million Boeing 747-8 jet from the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar to replace the aging Air Force One aircrafts. Then, when Mr. Trump leaves the presidency in early 2029 (hopefully), the plane becomes his possession. The U.S. government will presumably need to purchase and outfit new Air Force One’s. So, forget about the emoluments clause and the fact that the president is not supposed to accept a gift valued at over $480.
There is an even bigger logistics problem before the plane even gets airborne. By the time the plane from Qatar is retrofitted, brought up to FAA operational standards, and equipped with the necessary weaponry and security apparatus, Trump’s presidential term will be just something in the rear-view mirror. That means that after all of the necessary changes are made to the plane, the transaction will, in actuality, be a direct gift from the government of Qatar. So here we go back to the emoluments clause.
Final Thought
So, President Trump stands to make a pretty penny off of these deals regardless of whether the transactions are legal or not. But looking at it from another perspective, Mr. Trump has had multiple wives, numerous dalliances, five children, and a boatload of criminal indictments. It stands to reason that maybe he needs all of the money he can get his hands on.
