Trump’s $3.4 Billion Side Hustle

From crypto scams to corporate “donations,” here’s how he turned the White House into his personal ATM.

Money has always been Donald Trump’s true north. With legal bills piling up, his real estate empire in freefall, and prosecutors closing in, a second term was never about service. It was about cashing in.

Thanks to David Kirkpatrick’s reporting in The New Yorker, we now have a number: Trump has personally profited an estimated $3.4 billion from the presidency.

That figure includes the present value of his crypto holdings, sweetheart deals funneled through Trump-controlled businesses, and payments to family-run foundations. The numbers represent a mix of cash and asset valuations, and the crypto numbers are highly volatile.

You can read the full article here.

The Breakdown:

• Mar-a-Lago: +$125M since 2016

• Legal fees & Trump merch/licensing: $127.7M

• Kushner/Affinity Partners: $320M in fees on $2B Saudi investment

• Gulf real estate deal: $105.8M

• Qatar’s “gift” airplane: $150M

• Trump Hotel Hanoi: $40M licensing fee

• Truth Social stake: $25M

Crypto windfall:

• Trump/Melania NFT sales: $14.4M

• World Liberty Financial token sales: $412.5M

• Stablecoin deals: $243M

• “American Bitcoin”: $13M (low-end estimate)

• Trump Media crypto holdings: $1.3B

• $TRUMP memecoin: $384M (direct earnings only)

Corporate payouts:

• ABC: $15M

• Meta: $22M

• X: $10M

• CBS: $16M

• Amazon: $40M for Melania documentary (net ~$28M to the family)

Pay-to-play corruption:

After Trump’s 2024 win, crypto mogul Justin Sun, under SEC investigation for market manipulation, bought $75 million worth of “World Liberty Financial” tokens and helped raise more than $500 million. Donald Trump made over $400 million off that deal.

Weeks later, the SEC quietly paused its case against Sun.

Bottom-line:

This is who Donald Trump is really working for... himself.

While Americans face rising costs, healthcare cuts, a fragile economy, and higher taxes via tariffs, Donald Trump is making billions.

This “river of money” flowing into Trump’s pockets through properties, licensing, PACs, family deals, crypto schemes, and corporate “donations” is the largest presidential grift in U.S. history. It may not rise to the level of criminal corruption, but it’s still damaging.

The presidency is open for business. Trump will benefit. The rest of us will lose.