King Donald Court

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Your guide to what the second period of Trump means to Washington, business and the world

The writer is a FT editor, head of liberal strategies, Sofia, and his colleague at IWM Vienna

It is an old discussion: Is it a spoiling force, or the fear of losing it? Whatever the right answer, it is clear that something great happens in the United States today.

In the past two weeks, the media overwhelmed stories about President Donald Trump’s personal enrichment. According to reports, the Trump family and their business partners raised $ 320 million in fees from a new encrypted currency, expanding moderate real estate deals worth billions of dollars. Moreover, Trump welcomed Qatar from a luxury plane as a gift to the American government.

Forbes estimated that Trump’s net value increased by $ 1.2 billion between March 2024 and March 2025.

This extraordinary situation raises three main questions. First, why does Trump not even pretend to follow the usual presidential scenario of building a beautiful wall between the General Office and Private Business? Second, why is the public not affected by the increasing wealth of the Trump family and conflicts of interests? Third, what time can it be tolerated?

The son of the President, Donald Trump Junior, gave a direct answer to the first question. Speaking at a business forum in Qatar, the Trump family’s opinion expressed that “they will strike you, whatever the matter,” so playing according to the rules is the loser game. It has a point.

The results of the past decades of anti -corruption anger are that it has almost impossible to believe that anyone looking for power does not do so in order to become rich. The main distinction here is between these, such as Trump, who do not hide their conflicts in interests, and the hypocrites who are trying to cover up. The Hunter Biden epic is a reminder that Ibn President’s attempts to cover up his commercial deals have sparked more anger than the deals themselves.

Trump also benefited from his profits. For ordinary citizens, any amount of money more than a hundred times or more of their annual income is almost incomprehensible. The audience does not think about billions, so Trump’s deals are somewhat meaningful.

The second question – Why is the audience not affected? – Especially painful for many. “Either the general public did not care about this,” Paul Roszuen, who was a great consultant in Kenneth Star, suggested to President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, or “the audience cares about him but no longer.” In his opinion, the anti -corruption anger “was always just copies of the elite’s imagination.”

It is more than this. Historically, the topics of kings in many countries are forgiven with royal corruption because it is transparent; Luxurious lifestyle in members of the royal family is constantly displayed.

In the nineteenth century, traditional wisdom was that ownership was a form of strong government because people understood this. Democracy is seen today in the same way. Public preoccupation arises when democracy stops logically – when people no longer know who makes decisions. “Who really decides?” It is the question that tears modern democracies. Do the leaders follow the will of voters or donors? Are the rulers of those elected or unidentified by unidentified bureaucrators?

In a moment of uncertainty and lack of confidence, it is easier to put your hopes in an attractive individual in the complex institutions machine for modern democracy. The increasing call to personal authority is a direct result of the meaning that people enjoy that they no longer understand how their democracies work.

“Who decides?” It is one question that does not need to worry at the White House Trump. He is the one who decides, as a result, enriching his family while taking office has lost some of his threat. Trump may be one of the most polluted presidents of all American presidents, but also the most transparent.

Here lies the magic of secret genetic systems – the attractiveness of state management as a family company. As Trump realized, personal strength is weakened because of secrecy, and he threatened if he was not accused of corruption, but rather hypocrisy.

His administration is hell for conspiracy theorists because everything is on the roof. The current wave of combating liberalism is a revolution against double standards. In a society governed by the lack of confidence in the irony is the only one that is trusted. In its ideal version, modern democracy promises that a political leader will deal with his children like any others. But for those who vote for the benefit of the new powerful, this is the “big lie”.

As for the answer to the third question – for how long the audience can continue to tolerate Trump’s “beautiful” deals – it remains to see. But there is one clear thing: if the majority of American citizens ultimately turn against this administration, then the cry of the battle will be “hypocrisy”.