The Presidency of Billions…Trump, Vance, and the New Power’s Wealth | policy

The controversy in the United States is no longer limited to President Donald Trump’s political decisions, but has extended to include the amount of wealth he accumulated during his first year after returning to the White House, in a development that historians and governance ethics experts have described as unprecedented in modern American history.

According to the latest financial disclosure statements issued by the US administration, Trump’s revenues during 2025 exceeded $2.2 billion, driven primarily by his investments in cryptocurrencies and digital projects that expanded in conjunction with policies and measures taken by his administration, which reignited the debate about conflicts of interest and the separation between public office and private commercial interests.

Previous American presidents always worked to prove that their decisions were not influenced by any economic interests, but the Trump administration is moving in the opposite direction, as if the abundance of facts would make it seem normal.

by Researcher Jeffrey Engel

Profiting from the position

The New York Times revealed that Trump achieved about $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency-related projects within one year, bringing his annual revenues to no less than $2.2 billion, compared to about $622 million in 2024 before his return to the presidency.

The newspaper considered that these numbers represent an unprecedented shift compared to what American presidents are accustomed to, most of whom have historically sought to keep their commercial interests away from decision-making circles to avoid any suspicion of a conflict of interest.

The New York Times quoted tax lawyer and author Megan Gorman, who has studied the history of the wealth of American presidents over two and a half centuries, as saying that what is happening is “completely unprecedented,” considering that these actions represent “a violation of the American social contract, which stipulates that leaders put the country’s interest above their personal interest.”

The newspaper pointed out that American presidents throughout history have sought to distance themselves from suspicions of investing and profiting from office, noting that President George W. Bush sold his stake in the Texas Rangers before assuming office.

President Jimmy Carter transferred management of his peanut farm to an independent trustee, and Lady Bird Johnson placed her radio and television stations in an independent trust after her husband, Lyndon Johnson, assumed the presidency.

Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, Jeffrey Engel, said that presidents have always worked to prove that their decisions are not influenced by any economic interests, adding that what distinguishes the Trump administration is that it is “moving in the opposite direction, as if the abundance of facts will make it seem normal.”

Historians believe that even previous cases that sparked controversy about the actions of presidents’ relatives, such as the business activity of Jimmy Carter’s brother or the actions of Franklin Roosevelt’s son, were very limited compared to what is happening today, and some of them ended with their owners abandoning their positions or activities after being subjected to political and media pressure.

In contrast, the current generation of the Trump family is adopting a different approach, as the New York Times quoted Eric Trump as saying, “In the first term we did everything possible to avoid any appearance of impropriety, and we were crushed anyway. We cannot stay out of the market forever.”

In turn, historian Lindsay Chervinsky pointed out that public office has historically been a source of debt and not revenue, while Lindsay Updegrove, CEO of the Johnson Foundation, believes that “the publicity and openness of making money from the position itself is what makes this scene significantly different.”

Trump’s earnings last year

In a detailed tracking of the sources of this income according to the 2025 financial disclosure, the Washington Post indicated that the numbers include $635 million in licensing revenues from Celebration Coins, and at least $525 million in digital currency sales through the “World Liberty Financial” project that Trump founded with his sons, in addition to $196 million in net revenues from stable currency transactions.

Profits were not limited to the digital side, as Trump’s traditional real estate resorts recorded remarkable growth. According to the newspaper, Trump reported that he earned $121 million from the Trump National Doral golf club in 2025, and $77 million from the Mar-a-Lago resort, in addition to collecting $86.5 million from judicial settlements against major technology and media platforms.

Observers link these financial jumps to direct political decisions taken by the president, as the New York Times pointed out that these investments benefited from the law promoting stable currencies signed by Trump, and from the presidential pardon decision issued against Changping Zhao, the founder of the Binance platform and a business partner of the Trump family.

America is the capital of cryptocurrencies

In a related context, Trump’s meme digital currency “TRUMP

quot; About $636 million benefited from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s statement that decided to lift control over these currencies.

Trump’s real estate projects also continued to achieve significant returns, supported by development deals in Saudi Arabia, in addition to projects in Vietnam and Romania, while the president’s children’s investments expanded in other sectors, including military industries, market forecasting companies, and mining projects seeking federal support.

However, the US administration confirms that the president does not directly manage these businesses, and the Washington Post quoted White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly as saying that Trump “made the United States a global capital of cryptocurrencies” through innovative policies through his executive orders and his support for legislation supporting the sector, adding that “the president and his family have not and will not engage in any conflict of interest.”

According to the same newspaper, Trump’s financial disclosure documents showed that the declared assets he owned exceeded $2.4 billion, noting that their real value may be higher due to the nature of the federal disclosure forms, which merely set an upper limit for many assets at “more than $50 million.”

The president also recorded more than $620 million from real estate, hotel, and golf resort activities, in addition to $86.5 million from legal settlements with media companies and technology platforms, including ABC, CBS, Meta, YouTube, and the X platform.

The difference between Trump and his vice president

For its part, the Wall Street Journal highlighted the big difference between the financial disclosure documents of the President and his Vice President, J.D. Vance. While the document pertaining to Trump’s wealth was 927 pages, that of his Vice President did not exceed 17 pages.

The newspaper explained that Vance earned up to $7.4 million over the past year, most of it from the proceeds of his famous memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and his real estate and financial investments, in addition to assets in cryptocurrencies, whose profits jumped last year to between one million and $5 million, which are numbers that remain very modest compared to the president’s revenues.

Vance – according to the Wall Street Journal – owns an investment portfolio that includes assets in the digital currency Bitcoin ranging between $250,000 and $500,000, in addition to $50,000 in rental income from a property he owns in Washington, DC.

Vance also invested in a number of exchange-traded funds and investment portfolios worth $2.6 million.

US Vice Presidents receive an annual salary of $235,100, but Vance’s salary will rise this year to $292,300, according to an executive order signed by President Trump.