In a spectacle of deal-making that would leave even the most seasoned oligarchs in awe, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have spent the past fortnight jetting around the globe, unveiling an extraordinary array of ventures.
A billion-dollar hotel in Dubai. A second luxury tower in Jeddah. A sprawling villa complex and golf course in Qatar. Two cryptocurrency operations in the United States. And now, a $500,000-a-head private club in Washington’s Georgetown. And as reported by the New York Times, all under the Trump name — and all unfolding as their father, Donald J. Trump, occupies the White House once again.
It’s not merely a family business; it’s a family empire welded to the apparatus of American political power.
The ethical alarm bells could hardly be louder. Yet somehow, they go largely unheard. The Trump sons insist there is no wrongdoing — that they are merely continuing the work they’ve always done. The White House, for its part, claims there is no conflict of interest because the president’s assets are in a trust “managed by his children.” But the president’s financial disclosure forms tell a different story: Donald Trump personally profits from many of these ventures.
In short, the president is benefitting financially while his sons, using the cachet of the family name, criss-cross the globe striking deals and hosting galas.
“There’s nothing like it,” said Douglas Brinkley, the respected historian of American presidents. He’s right. America has had its brushes with nepotism and questionable family enrichment — Billy Carter’s beer, Neil Bush’s business ties, Hunter Biden’s art. But none match the sheer scale, audacity, and shamelessness of the Trump operation. These are not backroom deals. These are red-carpet affairs, complete with branded brochures urging investors to “Challenge everything” and “Stop at nothing.”
In Dubai, at the launch of the $1 billion Trump International Hotel and Tower — where units are reportedly priced up to $20 million — Eric Trump was feted at a lavish event that would make a sheikh blush. Who is buying these properties? And what, if anything, might they expect in return?
Meanwhile, in Washington, preparations are underway for the opening of Executive Branch, an exclusive club housed in a defunct restaurant, complete with bars, a boardroom and a Trumpian promise of elite access. It’s hard to see it as anything but a revival of the Trump International Hotel lobby — once the unofficial nerve centre of influence during the president’s first term.
Donald Trump Jr. has gone on the defensive, suggesting that critics expect him to “lock [himself] in a padded room” while his father is president. He scoffs at the idea that he should stop earning a living, even citing Hunter Biden as an example of the supposed double standards. Eric Trump likewise insists that many of these projects were already in motion before the re-election.
That may be true — but the timing, branding, and very public rollout make the intention crystal clear: to profit from the presidency, not in spite of it, but because of it.
None of this, it must be said, appears to be technically illegal. That, in a way, is the problem. The Trump presidency has not just pushed ethical boundaries — it has erased them. And in the process, it has trained the public to expect and accept behaviour that once would have been unthinkable.
A functioning democracy is not just about following rules to the letter. It is about respecting the spirit of public service. The presidency should be a solemn trust, not a marketing tool.
When a sitting president’s children can travel the world brokering billion-dollar deals that benefit not only themselves but the man in the Oval Office, we are no longer talking about blurred lines. We are talking about a business empire dressed in the robes of government.
The Trump sons may not see anything wrong with that. But the rest of us might.
Image: GROK.
