It’s All a Grift

The Steady State | by Bruce G. Berton

Donald Trump has never cared about the country, the Constitution, or the people who still believe he’s fighting for them. The only thing he has ever truly cared about is himself; his wealth, his image, and his ability to turn public office into private profit. That’s why this administration is not just corrupt, but the most corrupt in American history. It’s not subtle. It’s not hidden. And it’s not even denied. Trump and his allies are running the government as a family business.

This is all in plain sight, but Republicans in Congress are pretending that because it’s out in the open, it’s somehow okay. House Oversight Chair James Comer recently made that logic explicit: as long as Trump’s deals are public, there’s no problem. In other words, if you admit you’re monetizing the presidency, that makes it fine. Transparency in this warped moral universe has become the new cover-up. Comer’s remark crystallizes how far the bar has fallen. Corruption is no longer something to be denied, it’s something to be normalized.

The Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, is a case study. The company launched while Trump was publicly promising to deregulate the crypto industry and pardon its most controversial figures. Just months after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pled guilty to money laundering violations, Trump granted him a pardon. The same Binance empire had reportedly been in deal talks with Trump’s sons. A family-linked business venture, a presidential pardon, and a market boost that benefits both sides. It’s textbook self-dealing, carried out under the full glare of public attention.

Then there’s Qatar. The Gulf state gifted Trump a lavish Boeing jet reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Within months, the administration approved a Qatari military training facility at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. The timing speaks for itself. A foreign government showers the president with a gift, then receives expanded U.S. military access. It may not technically violate the law, but it absolutely violates the principle that American policy should serve American interests, not a president’s personal fortune.

And now, the Argentina bailout, packaged as global economic stabilization, looks more like a political favor to Trump’s hedge fund allies, who hold large stakes in Argentine debt and infrastructure. When U.S. resources are leveraged to protect billionaires from their own bad bets, that’s not leadership. That’s the world’s oldest con: using public power to rescue private wealth. Or as Trump might put it, “smart business.”

All of this is happening right in front of Congress. Yet instead of oversight, we get complicity. Comer’s “as long as its open” doctrine is now the governing principle. Republican lawmakers who once thundered about the sanctity of the rule of law now shrug at blatant grift. They know what’s happening. They just don’t care, or worse, they’re so scared of Trump they’ve decided it’s better to join the scam than to stop it.

The damage isn’t only ethical. It’s strategic. When the president accepts foreign gifts, he invites foreign leverage. When he pardons convicted money-launderers, he weakens the U.S. regulatory system. When he shapes bailouts to protect billionaire investors, he subordinates national interest to private greed. Our adversaries see the opening. They understand that the quickest way to influence American policy is to flatter or enrich the one man who, lacking any sort of check or balance, decides everything. Inside the national security establishment, the impact is corrosive.

Public servants who haven’t already been replaced or sidelined by Trump loyalists see a commander in chief using power for profit and wonder whether integrity still matters. This is how institutions rot from within.

Yes, America has seen corruption before. Watergate, Teapot Dome, Iran-Contra. But those scandals were hidden, denied, and eventually punished. Trump’s corruption is public and proud.

He brags about it. He markets it. And now, thanks to his enablers in Congress, he’s institutionalized it. He doesn’t care about the country. He doesn’t care about his supporters. He doesn’t care about democracy, truth, or even the people who defend him. Everything and everyone is expendable, so long as the grift continues.

When corruption becomes the governing philosophy, democracy becomes a mark to be hustled. Trump’s presidency is a con job in plain sight, a family enterprise dressed up as patriotism. He’s not serving America. He’s selling it. And the rest of us are paying the price.

Bruce Berton served as a U.S. diplomat for over three decades, ultimately rising to the senior ranks of the Foreign Service, including two years as Ambassador and Head of Mission at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is a native of the Pacific Northwest and a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 300 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.