In the recent past, Donald Trump made little effort to hide his skepticism of cryptocurrencies. For years, the Republican called them a “disaster waiting to happen,” adding that as far as he was concerned, Bitcoin seemed “like a scam.” He explicitly said he was “not a fan” of crypto, adding, “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”
The incoming president not only avoids acknowledging this record, he also seems eager to take full advantage of an industry he used to denounce. The New York Times reported:
President-elect Donald J. Trump and his family on Friday started selling a cryptocurrency token featuring an image of Mr. Trump drawn from the July assassination attempt, a potentially lucrative new business that ethics experts assailed as a blatant effort to cash in on the office he is about to occupy again.
The Republican announced the effort on Friday night, just a few days before Inauguration Day. Two days later, with roughly 20 hours remaining before the new president takes the oath of office, incoming first lady Melania Trump apparently got in on the game, launching a “coin” of her own.
To be sure, in recent months, Donald Trump has pursued merchandising opportunities in ways no other presidential candidate or president-elect ever has. Indeed, it’s been difficult to keep up with the ridiculous line of products, including everything from Trump-branded watches to silver Trump commemorative coins, batches of digital trading cards to Trump-branded guitars, gold sneakers to Trump-endorsed Bibles.
For a while, it seemed plausible to think that the Republican was trying to cash in while he had the chance: There was a possibility that Trump, already cash-strapped, might lose the election, limiting his money-making opportunities, so he had to launch as much merchandise as possible while there was still a market.
After he won a second term, however, he just kept selling.
This new endeavor, however, is almost certainly the worst — in part because of the rather obvious conflict of interest related to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in part because of the brazenness of the president-elect’s profiteering. The Times spoke to the Campaign Legal Center’s Adav Noti who said, “It is literally cashing in on the presidency — creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office. It is beyond unprecedented.”
At this point, some readers are probably thinking that these developments sound familiar. After all, it was in September when the then-candidate announced that he was partnering with some unusual characters — including a little-known “entrepreneur” who has described himself as “the dirtbag of the internet“ — to launch a cryptocurrency endeavor.
But as the Times’ report explained, that venture was a little different: The Trump family agreed to help promote a cryptocurrency startup for a cut of token sales. The Republican and his family, however, were only loosely affiliated with the company and did not own the platform.
It’s what makes the new endeavor more audacious.
An NBC News report added, “The cryptocurrency market features little transparency about its investors. People who purchase the $TRUMP coin do not have to reveal their identities.” It’s a key detail. What’s to stop a foreign government eager to bribe the American president from quietly dumping money into Trump’s new crypto project, effectively making direct payments to Trump without any public disclosures? Nothing. What’s more, let’s also not forget that the Trump Organization recently unveiled an ethics pledge that did not address potential questions regarding the incoming president’s crypto interests. When the Republican announced the new endeavor on Friday night, he concluded his online message, “Have Fun!” The point of the endeavor, however, has nothing to do with entertainment and everything to do with cashing in. To that end, Trump already has reason to celebrate, in the run up to his second inaugural, his family’s new crypto token has become “one of the most valuable forms of digital currency in the world.” A few days after Election Day 2024, I made the case that Trump’s corruption was an enormous problem in his first term, and it’s very likely to be worse in his second. Roughly 10 weeks later, I fear I might’ve understated the case.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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