Trump’s Most Audacious Move Yet

How Trump has used the presidency to benefit allies — and himself.

Someone recently asked me what had most surprised me about the first near-100 days of Donald Trump’s second administration.

One answer that came to mind is just how undisciplined it has been (and here I’m speaking relative to the expectations set before the term, not relative to Trump’s own standard).

Trump had four years in the wilderness to prepare for a second bite at the apple, which his allies spent drawing up detailed plans — most famously Project 2025, but many others as well — of what to do and who to hire. This was supposed to be the organized version of Trump in the White House, efficiently cranking out executive orders that would be administered by a united staff, loyal to Trump and led by “Ice Maiden” Susie Wiles.

Instead, of course, we have a Pentagon engulfed in apparent crisis, new tariff plans seemingly every day, and policy decisions being made by advisers racing to change Trump’s mind when rival aides are out of the building, not to mention numerous other signs of chaos. So much for planning ahead of time.

And yet, it still feels wrong to use “Donald Trump,” “undisciplined,” and “surprising” in the same sentence, so maybe that isn’t the best answer.

In that case, here’s something else that — while it might not top my list from the last four months — managed to surprise me nonetheless: later today, George Santos will be sentenced in federal court.

You remember Santos: the New York congressman who lied about where he went to high school and college, working on Wall Street, running an animal charity, his mother’s death, his family history, and his religion, among other fibs. He was ultimately expelled after 11 months in Congress and then indicted on 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making false statements, before pleading guilty last year.

Last month, Trump’s Justice Department recommended that Santos be sentenced to seven years in prison during today’s proceedings.

Why was this so surprising? Because Trump has spent the last 95 days using the powers of the presidency to benefit all sorts of allies, especially fellow politicians with high-profile public corruption cases.

He pardoned Rod Blagojevich, the self-described “Trumpocrat” former governor of Illinois. And Brian Kelsey, a former Republican state senator from Tennessee indicted on campaign finance charges. And, just yesterday, a former Republican city council member in Las Vegas — known in local circles as “Lady Trump” — who had been convicted of using funds raised to build a memorial to fallen police officers for her own personal expenses.

Trump’s Justice Department has also moved to drop campaign finance charges against Jeff Fortenberry, a former Nebraska Republican congressman, and bribery charges against Eric Adams, the Democratic mayor of New York City, in an apparent bid to pressure Adams to support the president’s immigration agenda.

Meanwhile, at the same time as calling for investigations into prominent critics and a Democratic fundraising platform, Trump has granted clemency to the January 6th rioters, who stormed the Capitol in support of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, two ex-Hunter Biden associates who testified against the former First Son, and Trevor Milton, the former Nikola CEO found guilty of securities and wire fraud who donated $1.8 million to Trump’s re-election.

Poor George Santos. An ardent Trump backer, he might be the only MAGA figure with a case before the justice system who hasn’t managed to receive some form of relief (at least, not yet).

“At a minimum, one would expect Santos to approach sentencing with a modicum of restraint so as not to undermine the attorneys who have advocated for leniency on his behalf,” the Justice Department wrote in a filing last week. “Instead, however, Santos has reverted to form and approaches sentencing with belligerence and an insatiable appetite for ‘likes,’ blaming his situation on everyone except himself.”

Not exactly the sort of behavior that one normally thinks of as fazing Donald Trump.

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Of course, it’s nothing new for presidents to use their powers to help allies and hurt rivals. Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, a wealthy Democratic megadonor. Joe Biden pardoned his son and several other family members, while his administration prosecuted Trump himself. Across administrations, the trend of “ambassadonors” is long-established.

But, in his second term, Trump has pushed things to a new level. Trump’s ambassador nominees collectively donated almost $60 million to Trump and other Republican candidates in the last two years, per NOTUS, nearly three times what Biden’s ambassadors had donated to Democrats in the 10 years before their nominations. (And Trump has only filled a quarter of the posts.)

The president has used the force of his administration to crack down on law firms and universities he disagrees with, even seeking to use the IRS to lift Harvard’s tax-exempt status and offer assistance to megadonor pillow magnate Mike Lindell.

In addition to the pardons, commutations, and dropped charges detailed above, the Justice Department has paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and retreated from other white-collar law enforcement, especially in areas like crypto where he has allies.

And all of this is before you consider how Trump has used his second term to enrich one individual in particular: himself.

In his first term, Trump abandoned plans to host an international summit at one of his properties, bogged down by ethics considerations.

This time, no such guardrails seem to apply. Trump debuted his most audacious plan to funnel the trappings of the presidency towards his personal wealth this week, announcing that the top 220 holders of $TRUMP, his memecoin, would be treated to a private dinner at his northern Virginia golf club next month.

But that’s not all: the top 25 holders of the cryptocurrency will be invited to a VIP reception with the president and a tour of the White House. The online announcement called it “the most exclusive invitation in the world.”

The value of $TRUMP had been on the decline lately — but it surged after the contest went public, as investors competed for the opportunity to join Trump at the dinner and tour.

The value of the $TRUMP memecoin.

“The biggest buyer acquired 2 million coins worth about $24 million,” according to the Washington Post. Together, the top 27 buyers “acquired more than 8 million $TRUMP coins, worth about $100 million as of Thursday afternoon.”

All of this can be tracked on a leaderboard set up by Trump’s company, with special designations next to the lucky 25 currently leading the race to win the White House tour.

The buyers are anonymous, although the Post notes that the top wallet, “Sun,” is registered by HTX, a crypto exchange whose advisory board includes the crypto billionaire Justin Sun.

Sun was charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2023, a case which the Trump administration asked a court to pause in February. Sun had previously invested $75 million in World Liberty Financial, a separate crypto project backed by the Trump family.

Together, a Trump Organization affiliate and another company led by a Trump ally own 80% of $TRUMP coins, which means the surge in the coin’s price directly benefits Trump’s company (according to the Post, it has boosted the value of the Trump affiliate’s crypto wallet by roughly $100 million).

Trump’s family business also makes money via fees whenever the coins are traded, which has brought in $1.25 million in the past week, per the Post, including the period in which the coins were being sold in exchange for access to the president.

In the 1990s, Bill Clinton’s administration became infamous for similarly giving access to the White House — most notably through overnight stays at the Lincoln Bedroom — to dozens of campaign donors.

Unlike those contributions, however, there is no limit on how much money one can spend by buying $TRUMP coins, nor is there a prohibition on foreigners purchasing the coins if they wanted to gain access to the president.

The other difference? While the Clinton-era controversy was over donations to his campaign, in this case, the funds won’t go to any election bid or political effort. The benefits from the presidential dinner and the White House tour will redound to Trump and his family directly.