For the first time in 20 years, corruption was the top issue on voters’ minds this election year. President Donald Trump rightly deserves blame for making it a top-tier issue.
The day before Republicans suffered historic losses in the House and Senate, turning both chambers over to the Democrats, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) told radio host Stephen A. Smith that “the swamp is the worst it has ever been” before lamenting “the amount of money these people are making who are in the administration.”
DeSantis then attacked Trump aide Alina Habba, saying she was “working for DOJ, and she gets a $10-million-a-year contract and then the guy that gave it to her got a presidential pardon somehow.”
DeSantis is right, and the Trump administration’s corruption goes far deeper than that.
The financial conflicts began before Trump returned to office. Four days before his inauguration, representatives of an Emirati royal secretly agreed to purchase a $500 million stake in the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial venture. His administration subsequently agreed to expand the United Arab Emirates’s access to advanced American artificial intelligence chips. A Chinese-born businessman who later invested at least $75 million in World Liberty and became an adviser to the venture then saw the Securities and Exchange Commission suspend its fraud case against him in February 2025.
That April, Trump’s own investment accounts made 327 stock purchases the day before his tariff reversal triggered a historic rally. Unidentified traders placed extraordinarily well-timed bets just before the tariff pause, including options worth approximately $2.14 million that subsequently reached $21.44 million.
In May, Vietnam approved a $1.5 billion Trump-branded resort while negotiating to avoid his threatened tariffs. Its prime minister publicly credited Eric Trump’s visit with motivating officials to expedite the project. That month, the administration accepted a luxury aircraft from Qatar, with plans for its eventual transfer to Trump’s presidential library foundation, and Trump hosted leading buyers of his meme coin at his private golf club, tying presidential access to purchases of a product benefiting his business.
In July, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million toward his presidential library while awaiting his administration’s approval of its merger with Skydance. The merger was approved later that month. By this summer, Trump’s media company had found another way to profit from presidential power: selling Wall Street faster access to his Truth Social posts. The service charges as much as $100,000 a month for a speed advantage in receiving statements that can send markets soaring or plunging. Trump is the sole beneficiary of the trust holding 41% of the company. The president makes market-moving government announcements on his own platform, and his business collects money from financial firms seeking to trade on those announcements before ordinary investors can react.
Voters elected Trump to make their lives more affordable. Instead, they have watched their bills rise while the president finds new ways to profit from the power they entrusted to him. When the same policies that strain their household budgets create opportunities for his enrichment, their anger is hardly surprising. Voters expected Trump to improve their finances. They have every reason to resent seeing him prioritize his own.
TRUMP’S HUBRIS AND FAILURE GET THEIR VOTER PAYBACK
According to the exit polls, corruption was a “crucial or a major factor” for 90% of voters, beating the cost of living (89%), Iran (74%), and data centers (56%). Those who named corruption as a crucial factor in their vote broke hard against Trump by a margin of 63% to 35%.
Republicans cannot credibly campaign against Washington corruption while excusing it when a president of their own party benefits. They should ban congressional stock trading, work with Democrats to investigate the administration’s financial conflicts, and make sure government decisions serve the public. If Republicans want voters to trust them with power, they must demonstrate that they can hold their own side accountable.