Donald Trump is essentially unrestrained when it comes to enriching himself during his second term, with no sign of stopping. If anything, he’s ramping things up.
The numbers so far are astonishing. He amassed $2.2bn in 2025 revenues, the Guardian and other news outlets have reported.
And despite widespread criticism of this astonishing fact, very little is standing in the way of his reaping even more.
“The Congress has decided not to commit oversight to this topic, and that’s just the fact of the matter at this point,” Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for the New York Times, told National Public Radio recently.
While his actions appall historians, academics and millions of ordinary Americans, they may be within legal boundaries.
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Moral or ethical boundaries? Not so much.
“While Trump’s second term is less than half over, it already looks like the most openly corrupt administration in our history,” Larry Noble, a law professor and former general counsel at the Federal Election Commission, told the Guardian’s Peter Stone.
Despite his loyal base of followers, much of the American public isn’t happy about it. Two-thirds of Americans polled by CNN said that this president doesn’t put the good of the United States over his personal gain.
His overall approval ratings have tanked to 33% – the lowest level of his presidency – with a disapproval rating at 64%, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
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Startling as the details of his enrichment may be, his mindset – full speed ahead, don’t bother me with past practices – reflects his behavior in other realms. He glories in knowing no restraints or boundaries, and shrugs off criticism.
His power is held back only by his “own morality”, he told the New York Times in January. “It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
He was speaking specifically about being restrained on the international stage – his freedom to use any military, economic or political power for what he sees as American supremacy.
But it’s a mentality he apparently brings into feathering his and his family’s own nest. As Lipton told NPR, queries about apparent conflicts of interest are brushed off, and the party line is that the Trump family’s extracurricular businesses are building the US economy.
In earlier presidencies, his actions surely would have political consequences, perhaps impeachment. (He was impeached twice, but not convicted, first in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, then for incitement of the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.)
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Trump has amassed at least $1.4bn last year from his cryptocurrency ventures alone, the Guardian reported, noting that others fared less well; about a million investors in one of his crypto projects suffered nearly $4bn in losses as the value of their holdings cratered.
Then there are the wealthy foreigners who have invested in the Trump family’s hotel and golf-resort projects, creating potential conflicts of interest.
His media company, Truth Social, has been another major source of wealth. Now there’s a new plan to offer early access to his posts for a fee of $100,000. Those posts, of course, have the power to move markets. It’s come under heavy criticism – and prompted lawsuits from media organizations and advocacy groups such as the Freedom of the Press Foundation that argue it’s unconstitutional.
But, to date, as with so much of what Trump does, it’s proceeding brazenly.
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Every once in a while, the courts step in to provide some restraints.
Trump tried to use his already weaponized federal justice department to settle his $10bn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The initial result was to provide him and his family immunity from earlier audits of their tax returns, which might save the Trumps about $100m. But in a rare bit of accountability, a federal judge – one appointed by Barack Obama – nullified major parts of the agreement. The legal status is still being contested, and the stakes are high.
All of this has the power to shock those paying attention to news reports. But there, too, Trump has given himself a form of protection by constantly playing on citizens’ mistrust of legacy media and to brand such investigations as “fake news”.
The result, as author and journalist Craig Unger put it recently on Substack, is that nothing “moves the needle”. Not that long ago, he wrote, the press could “root out corruption, topple presidents, and end wars”. But now, even the biggest scoops and the most dramatic revelations seem to have little impact, Unger argues; that’s because the national citizenry doesn’t share an agreed-upon set of facts as it used to do.
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Trump’s low approval ratings do seem to tell a different story, however, and voters will get a chance to make their voices heard soon. At the very least, some restraint on Trump’s excesses might be accomplished if November’s midterm elections give Democrats more power with a majority in one or both chambers of Congress.
Many forecasters think the Democrats may well regain the House of Representatives but that their getting a majority of Senate seats is quite a bit less likely.
For now, Trump continues to take full advantage of a situation that has so greatly benefited his personal wealth, if not his reputation or legacy.
Like a greedy toddler, he keeps sticking his hand in the presidential cookie jar. And no one, so far, seems able to yank it out.
