Trump is cashing in on the presidency like no president ever has

Axios Axios —

Never in 250 years has America witnessed a sitting president shield himself and his family from tax scrutiny, after leveraging policies that benefit his own businesses and personal portfolios, as https://www.axios.com/politics-policy/donald-trump" target="_blank">Donald J. Trump has done.

Why it matters: This isn't a hidden scandal.

Trump has done this https://www.axios.com/2026/05/19/trump-presidential-gold-rush" target="_blank">publicly and proudly.

Last year, we https://www.axios.com/2025/09/23/trump-unprecedented-presidency-behind-the-curtain" target="_blank">called it the "most unprecedented presidency in 250 years."

In doing so, he has set a precedent — once so unfathomable as to be laughable — that it's OK for presidents and family members to make billions off deals affected by government decisions, then use the Justice Department to secure lifetime protection from scrutiny of their past tax returns.

We were debating how to capture just how unprecedented Trump's actions are, when every week of every year seems filled with unprecedented words and actions.

Let's try this.

Imagine America put these questions to a public referendum:

  1. Presidents and their family members, unlike other U.S. citizens, shall be https://www.axios.com/2026/05/19/trump-tax-settlement-irs-anti-weaponization-fund-doj" target="_blank">granted lifetime immunity from federal audits and criminal investigations of their past tax returns.
  2. Presidents and their family members can maintain active ownership of https://www.axios.com/2025/11/18/trump-business-serbia-saudi-profit" target="_blank">global business empires, profiting when government decisions directly benefit https://www.axios.com/2026/01/02/trump-2025-investments-trump-coin-djt" target="_blank">those specific businesses.
  3. Presidents, while in office, can maintain massive personal https://www.axios.com/2025/05/07/trump-crypto-stablecoin-bill" target="_blank">crypto and https://www.axios.com/2026/05/19/trump-stocks-nvidia-boeing" target="_blank">stock portfolios that buy and sell hundreds of millions of dollars in industries directly regulated by their own administration.

How would you vote?

  • It's hard to imagine more than single-digit support for any of these.

    Yet Trump is doing all three and paving the way for future presidents to do the same.

    That's why precedents by presidents often matter as much as laws themselves.

Between the lines: This is more than just a Trump problem.

Look at the https://www.quiverquant.com/congresstrading/" target="_blank">astonishing number of lawmakers trading and making money off stocks, often with insider knowledge of looming congressional action.

  • Pollsters have asked how Americans feel about officials trading stocks while in office, and it's one of the rare genuinely bipartisan issues in politics today.

Flashback: After Watergate, modern presidents from both parties built elaborate legal and ethical structures designed to separate public office from private enrichment.

Let's dig deeper on each of our three questions:

1.

Tax audit immunity clause: The Justice Department quietly added a sweeping addendum to https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28132616-sdfl-settlement-signed/" target="_blank">a settlement resolving Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over past tax leaks — a case in which Trump was effectively both plaintiff and defendant, suing his own administration in his personal capacity.

2.

Business entanglements and global branding: Ongoing domestic and international operations by the Trump Organization have repeatedly collided with active administration policies.

3.

Crypto and stock trading: Trump last year signed the https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/07/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-signs-genius-act-into-law/" target="_blank">GENIUS Act, a regulatory framework for stablecoins that legitimized and expanded the crypto market at the same time that he and his family actively https://www.axios.com/2025/05/07/trump-crypto-stablecoin-bill" target="_blank">profited from it.

The bottom line: Trump's net worth today is https://www.forbes.com/profile/donald-trump/" target="_blank">$6.1 billion, Forbes estimates, up from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2025/03/31/how-truth-social-and-crypto-helped-donald-trump-double-his-fortune-in-just-one-year/" target="_blank">$5.1 billion last year, https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2025/09/09/presidency-boosts-trumps-net-worth-by-3-billion-in-a-year/" target="_blank">$4.3 billion in 2024 and https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2021/04/06/donald-trump-tumbles-nearly-300-spots-in-billionaire-ranks/" target="_blank">$2.4 billion in 2021.

  • Axios' Zachary Basu and Shane Savitsky contributed reporting.

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