The Scope of Trump's Presidential Grift: More than $1.4 Billion

The New York Times Finally Does Something Right: Their big, bold headline "How Trump Has Pocketed $1,408,500,000" says it all

Screenshot of New York Times headline; fair use claim

The New York Times finally has put a number to Trump’s grift.¹ He has, according to an accumulation of reports, used the presidency to snatch at least $1.4 billion for the Trump crime family since his first term.

The New York Times editorial board today posted an article that begins with these three paragraphs:²

President Trump has never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him.

He has poured his energy and creativity into the exploitation of the presidency — into finding out just how much money people, corporations and other nations are willing to put into his pockets in hopes of bending the power of the government to the service of their interests.

A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.

They then list some specifics (I’m quoting liberally from the article here):

• “$23 million from licensing his name overseas.”

• “A hotel in Oman.”

• “An office tower in western India.”

• “A golf course on the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”

• “The administration agreed to lower its threatened tariffs on Vietnam about a month after a Trump Organization project broke ground on a $1.5 billion golf complex outside of Hanoi. Vietnamese officials ignored their own laws to fast-track the project.”

• “The Trumps are pocketing $28 million from Amazon for a documentary about Melania Trump.”

• “Major tech and media companies have paid Trump $90.5 million in settlements since his re-election. The settlements have come from X, ABC News, Meta, YouTube and Paramount. None of them were justified on the merits. Paramount, for example, agreed to pay the president $16 million for what he claimed was the deceptive editing of a 2024 Kamala Harris interview. The editing was a normal part of journalism. Three weeks later, the Federal Communications Commission approved an $8 billion merger with Skydance.”

• “Qatar gave Trump a $400 million jet that he will use as Air Force One while president and plans to take with him after leaving office.”

• The Trump crime family has already pulled in $867 million from its cryptocurrency scams, according to the report: “Trump’s sale of crypto has been by far his biggest moneymaker, according to Reuters. People who hope to influence federal policy, including foreigners, can buy his family’s coins, effectively transferring money to the Trumps, and the deals are often secret.”

• “A United Arab Emirates-backed investment firm announced plans last year to deposit $2 billion into a Trump firm — two weeks before the president gave the country access to advanced chips.”

The Times article goes on to point out that the $1.4 billion is almost certainly an underestimate:

It is probable that Mr. Trump has collected several hundred million dollars in additional profits from his cryptocurrency ventures over the past year. The Trumps have acknowledged as much. When The Financial Times asked Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, about its estimated value of the family’s crypto gains, he said they were probably even larger than the news organization thought.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has tracked the Trump crime family’s international projects that began during one of his two terms in office. Most of them come from the art of the swindle, as opposed to the “art of the deal.”

I’ve reproduced their list in bulleted format. I am quoting the information directly from the source, but I reformatted it because the source is in table format, which Substack does not support.³

The bulleted list works like this: Trump development name, City, Country, Trump-branded elements (such as golf course, hotel, etc.), Business partner, Being developed during second term (yes or “Already open”, meaning it was probably started during his first term), Source(s).

Trump crime family international grift developments

• Le Chateau Des Palmiers, Terres Basses, French Saint Martin, Estate, N/A, Already open, Source

• Trump International, Hung Yen, Vietnam, Hotel, golf, residential, Hung Yen Hospitality, Yes, Source 1 | Source 2

• Trump International, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Hotel, golf, residential, Dar Global and Dar al Arkan, Yes, Source 1

• Trump International Golf Club, Dubai, UAE, Golf, DAMAC Properties, Already open, Source

• Trump International Golf Club & Villas, Simaisma, Qatar, Golf, residential, Dar Global and Qatari Diar, Yes, Source

• Trump International Golf Club; Trump Residences; Trump International Hotel, Muscat, Oman, Hotel, golf, residential, Dar Global, Yes, Source

• Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeen, UK, Hotel, golf, N/A, Already open, Source

• Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg, Ireland, Hotel, golf, N/A, Already open, Source

• Trump International Hotel, Maldives, Maldives, Hotel, Dar Global, Yes, Source

• Trump International Hotel and Tower, Dubai, UAE, Hotel, residential, Dar Global, Yes, Source

• Trump International Resort & Golf Club; Trump Residences, Lido City, Indonesia, Hotel, golf, residential, MNC Land, Yes, Source

• Trump International Resort, Golf Club & Residences, Bali, Indonesia, Hotel, golf, residential, MNC Land, Yes, Source

• Trump Plaza, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Residential and commercial, Dar Global, Yes, Source

• Trump Tower, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Residential, Dar Global, Yes, Source 1 | Source 2

• Trump Tower, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Residential, Dar Global, Yes, Source

• Trump Tower, Mumbai, India, Residential, Lodha Group, Already open, Source

• Trump Tower, Kolkata, India, Residential, Unimark, Yes, Source

• Trump Tower, Punta del Este, Uruguay, Residential, YY Development Group, Yes, Source

• Trump Tower, Makati, Philippines, Residential, Century Properties, Already open, Source

• Trump Tower, Bucharest, Romania, Residential, SDC Imobiliare, Yes, Source

• Trump Towers, Pune, India, Residential, Panchshil Realty, Already open, Source

• Trump Towers, Delhi NCR, India, Residential, Tribeca Developers and M3M, Yes, Source

• Trump Towers, Istanbul, Turkey, Residential and commerical, Dogan Holdings, Already open, Source

• Trump Turnberry, Turnberry, UK, Hotel, golf, N/A, Already open, Source

• Trump World, Seoul, South Korea, Residential, Daewoo, Already open, Source

• Trump World Center Pune, Pune, India, Commercial, Tribeca Developers and Kundan Spaces, Yes, Source 1 | Source 2

• Trump World Golf Club, Dubai, UAE, Golf, DAMAC Properties, Yes, Source

• Unknown, Mumbai, India, Residential, Tribeca Developers, Yes, Source 1 | Source 2

• Unknown, Bengaluru, India, Residential, Tribeca Developers, Yes, Source 1 | Source 2

• Unknown, Hyderabad, India, Residential, Tribeca Developers, Yes, Source 1 | Source 2

• Unknown, Noida, India, Residential, Tribeca Developers, Yes, Source 1 | Source 2

• Unknown, Gurgaon Sector, India, Residential, Tribeca Developers, Yes, Source 1 | Source 2

Policy? Fuhgettaboutit

The anti-Trump mediasphere wastes a lot of cyberbits trying to wrestle pieces of logic out of the things Trump does. Writers and reporters twist themselves into knots trying to figure out why one “policy” is chosen over another.

There is no way to make the “logic” work. There are only two things to consider when covering Trump:

1. He’s insane. I mean that truly, literally, and in a clinical sense.⁴

2. All his actions are focused on grift or as a deflection against the inevitable release of the Trump/Epstein Files.⁵

The only other relevant activity associated with the concept of policy is another madman, Stephen Miller, who is using this opportunity to build an American Gestapo.

Don’t try to figure anything else out. The only way we should be examining Trump’s actions is through the lenses of grift, insanity, and Stephen Miller. That’s it.

Even Greenland is a grift:

Notes

I don’t like dropping a one-time donation button right after the word “grift,” but I had to do it before I forgot:

During the November 2024 presidential election cycle, the New York Times sanewashed Trump to such an extent that it became a running joke. The parody Twitter account, NYTPitchbot, has 234,000 followers on Twitter. A perusal of this Substack, Ruminato, will reveal rants about the newspaper’s worst headline offenses.

After the election, I unsubscribed, like a whole lot of you did.

As the terrors of the administration unfolded, the Times lured me back with a deal, so I resubscribed. For all their faults, the paper still has enough legitimate journalists that a day doesn’t go by when one of them doesn’t report, often in great detail, about the awful things this administration does.

Now that I’ve resubscribed, you don’t have to. I don’t encourage others to subscribe. If I’m going to recommend a non-Substack media resource, I’ll recommend ProPublica, which broke the Clarence Thomas bribery stories. ProPublica is always free, but it’s a good news outlet to contribute funds to. They have a substantial network of local independent news publications that they work with.

As for the Times, I’m happy to pass on any worthwhile information I get from them to you. Other Substacks do the same. The sanewashing during the election was inexcusable. They don’t deserve your support unless you strongly feel the need to keep track of all their stories.

Here’s a gift link to the Times article (or should I say “grift link?):

🎁 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/20/opinion/editorials/trump-wealth-crypto-graft.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1A.rkw_.O4NqOLjKXKcc&smid=url-share 🎁

I frequently include gift links so that you can bypass the New York Times (and other media sources) paywall.

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

1. I know, I know. Where were they during the election?

2. Board, The Editorial. “Opinion | How Trump Has Used the Presidency to Make at Least $1.4 Billion.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times, January 20, 2026.

Ruminato Gift Link: 🎁 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/20/opinion/editorials/trump-wealth-crypto-graft.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1A.rkw_.O4NqOLjKXKcc&smid=url-share 🎁

3. CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “Twenty-Two Trump-Branded Real Estate Projects Will Be Developed in Foreign Countries during Trump’s Presidency - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington,” January 13, 2026. https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/trump-foreign-development-tracker/.

4.

5. It’s amazing that Bondi doesn’t understand that all her redaction efforts are a waste of time. There are multiple copies of these things. They’ll be released one way or another. Why, you might ask, is whoever holding onto them not releasing them? Because they don’t want to expose the victims’ names if they can help it (those who aren’t yet known). There are millions of files. So my hunch is that they’re waiting to see what the government finally releases, if anything.