During President Trump's first term, special interests and the idea that the government had bought meals and reservation rooms at his hotels issued legal and ethical warnings about possible corruption.
Trump's second term is making these concerns appear trivial.
The administration's plan to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatar royal family is just the latest example of an increasingly unprotected atmosphere in Washington under Trump 2.0. Not only is the CEO of the well-known transaction able to fly while in office, he is also expected to be transferred to the Presidential Foundation when he leaves the White House.
The second Trump administration shows a prominent scorn against the former norms of validity and the traditional legal and political guardrails on public services. It is clearly encouraging because of the Supreme Court decision last year that gave the president an immunity for official actions and the political reality that Trump's retention against the Republican Party means he doesn't have to fear each.
Trump's first committee raised $239 million from wealthy business profits, hoping to more than double its first record in 2017, avoiding more than double $107 million.
Before returning to the office, Trump also launched $Trump, a meme that will allow crypto investors around the world to enrich him. His family has already made millions on trading fees, and digital coin's own reserve amounts to billions of paper.
This month, Trump auctioned face-to-face access to himself through the sale of coins, and announced that top buyers will get a private dinner at one of the golf courses, while the biggest owner will be on a tour of the White House. The contest injected a renewed interest into the coin, despite its inherent value.
The removal of such constraints extends to law enforcement.
In April, the Trump administration disbanded the Department of Justice forces dedicated to investigating cryptocurrency crimes.
Previously, Trump had ordered the department to halt enforcement of foreign corrupt practices laws.
And Attorney General Pam Bondi himself, a former high-paid lobbyist in Qatar, narrowed down the enforcement of laws requiring foreign governments to register such relationships and disclose what they have paid.
The administration has not published a legal analysis of the agreement with Qatar.
Those familiar with the matter said that Bondy personally signed a memo from the Justice Department to congratulate the plan as legal, but the person added that it had been drafted and liquidated by the attorneys of the department's legal counsel.
Certainly, an aspect of cultural change before Trump. In 2016, the Supreme Court unanimously made it difficult to prosecute civil servants for corruption by narrowing what counts as “official conduct” in the federal government's bribery law and voiding the former Virginia governor's transplant conviction.
And Washington has always been a place where money and politics can mix together in an unsightly manner, and there has been no political party that monopolized those seeking to exploit public office for private interest.
For example, Robert Menendez, a democratic senator in New Jersey, resigned from his position last year after being found guilty of taking a bribe.
And Hunter Biden won a seat in favour of the Ukrainian gas company's board of directors, with his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., as vice president. Transactions of father's status in this way were widely considered unconcerned that, even if the facts of the arrangement were covered by conspiracy theories or conspiracy theories carried out by the right, it included bribery by Russian oligarchs.
However, the current moment that comes as Trump's cryptogambit joins the intended acquisition of Qatar's planes is particularly noteworthy for the openness of the president, his close relatives, his close relatives and groups on his orbit to acquire personal benefits or otherwise advance his personal agenda apart from government policy decisions.
Trump has pressured several major law firms to donate tens of millions of dollars of free legal services towards his positive cause. (Other law firms have been successful and have fought his orders in court.)
He also found other ways to withdraw money from high-tech companies. Amazon reportedly paid $40 million for the right to stream future documentaries about first lady Melania Trump.
Meta agreed to pay $25 million to the nonprofit that will build and run Trump's future presidential museum, and resolved a lawsuit against the suspension of his account on January 6, 2021 over lies about 2020 election lies that culminated in an attack on the Capitol.
Business owners of news media organizations have also settled lawsuits with Trump, which many media lawyers thought would be more likely to win. ABC News has agreed to pay the Trump Museum Foundation $15 million.
Paramount, which requires the Trump administration's approval to sell to Hollywood Studios, is considering a similar settlement with Trump in a lawsuit brought against one of its subsidiary CBS News last year over how “60 Minutes” compiled an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump's plan for the Qatar plane appears to be to use it as an air force until the end of his presidency, with Boeing finishing construction of a new generation of presidential aircraft. The pentagon transfers it to his museum foundation. (He called it his “library,” but the Presidential Library is a research facility run by the National Archives. They are often adjacent to a museum run by a private foundation dedicated to the former president.)
Trump compared the plan to the Ronald Reagan Museum in Simi Valley, California. Here, the Presidential Boeing 707 is now a star attraction. However, the plane was at the end of its lifespan – it was used as Air Force 1 from 1973 to 2001 before it was abolished. It is also an Air Force property, simply on a permanent loan.
Qatar's planes are still almost new in 2029, raising the question of whether Trump's museum foundation, run by his allies, will allow him to continue using planes after Trump takes office. On Monday, Trump denied that this was his intention.
Even if that was the case, it was unclear why the US government would benefit from abolishing expensive, almost new aircraft. But parking at the future Trump museum will help Trump's glory.
On Monday, Trump also highlighted the Qatar flight offer, which emphasized that the US would provide security to the Gulf nation and “we will continue.”
He added that he considers the gift from Catalis as “a very nice gesture.” He said only “silly people” would refuse “very expensive planes.”
