Trump Returns to Platinum Blond After Brief Gray Stint (Cover Image source: @World_Affairs11/X)
Donald Trump and his family are said to have raked in an eye-watering $3.4 billion during his time in the White House, according to a deep-dive investigation by The New Yorker. The analysis claims the money came from a mix of deals, investments, and business moves that likely wouldn’t have happened if Trump hadn’t been president.
Some of the biggest windfalls came from projects in the Persian Gulf, including hotels and golf courses in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, where the Trump Organization struck lucrative agreements during and after his presidency.
The report also points to high-value gifts that found their way to the family, including a Boeing 747-8 from the Qatari royal family, worth well over $100 million. On top of that, Trump’s dive into cryptocurrency and NFTs turned into a personal gold rush.
His $TRUMP memecoin reportedly brought in at least $320 million, while Melania Trump’s $MELANIA memecoin pulled in another $65 million. And Jared Kushner’s private equity firm scored a massive $2 billion investment from a Saudi fund led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which is believed to have added about $320 million to the overall family take.
Donald Trump Jr. wasn’t left out of the action either. He launched an exclusive private members’ club that, while much smaller in scale than the other ventures, still brought in around $500,000 a year. Other family-linked businesses chipped in too, an online gun retailer called GrabAGun and a venture capital company named 1789 Capital reportedly added nearly $20 million to the pile.
And then there’s Mar-a-Lago, the crown jewel of Trump’s business empire, which is said to have generated about $125 million from memberships, high-dollar fundraisers, and hosting events for the wealthy and politically connected.
Critics say the numbers paint a clear picture of a president whose time in office became a family business opportunity on steroids. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back at that idea, accusing the media of manufacturing a scandal. “Neither the President nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest,” she told the Daily Beast, calling the reports “irresponsible” and damaging to public trust.
But not everyone is buying that defense. Fred Wertheimer, a veteran voice in the ethics reform world, told The New Yorker that when it comes to using public office to cash in personally, Trump is in a league of his own. “When it comes to using his public office to amass personal profits, Trump is a unicorn; no one else even comes close,” Wertheimer said. He also argued that Trump’s relentless focus on monetizing his brand while in the Oval Office gave donors and investors the clear sense that their money might come with political perks.
With five children from three marriages, Trump has built a financial empire that will keep his heirs very comfortable for generations. Much of that wealth stems from his decades in real estate and branding before entering politics, but his presidency supercharged the family fortune in ways few could have imagined.
Whether the American public sees it as business genius or a glaring conflict of interest, there’s no denying that Trump’s years in the White House were as profitable for his inner circle as they were historic for American politics.
