Trump Sued the President. Then He Settled With Himself.
Donald Trump sued his own Justice Department for $10 billion. Then his Justice Department settled with him. Quietly, in a hyperlink tucked into a press release, that same Justice Department promised the IRS will never again examine a tax return Trump, his sons, or the Trump Organization filed before May 19, 2026. As former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told PBS NewsHour, no administration in American history has done this.
The settlement also created a nearly $1.8 billion fund, according to NPR, paid with our tax money to compensate people who claim they were victims of “government weaponization.” Decisions sit with a five-member commission, four of whom will be appointed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Blanche was Trump’s personal defense attorney before he was confirmed.
We could stop there. But that’s only one of three things happening in plain sight.
According to a Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington analysis cited by Axios, the Trump Organization has 25 Trump-branded real estate projects under development in 12 foreign countries, more than triple the count before Trump returned to office. A $1 billion Trump Plaza is rising in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A $500 million Trump International in Oman. Vietnam fast-tracked a Trump project despite legal objections. Don Jr. and Eric run the family business now, we’re told, and foreign governments just happen to love the brand. Sure.
Then there’s crypto. The Wall Street Journal reported that World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto venture, took a $500 million investment from a fund tied to the UAE’s national security adviser four days before inauguration. Two months later, the administration approved UAE access to roughly 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips a year, a sale the Biden administration had blocked. According to Axios, Trump family crypto has produced more cash in 16 months than the Trump real estate empire produced from 2010 through 2017.
And the stocks. According to Wall Street Journal reporting summarized by Axios, Trump executed roughly 3,700 trades through independently managed accounts in the first quarter of 2026, making him the most active stock trader in presidential history. The portfolio bought Nvidia, whose chips his administration cleared for export to China. It bought Palantir weeks before Trump praised it on Truth Social. It bought Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman, Pentagon contractors supplying the war with Iran.
Vice President Vance assured reporters this week that the president is not personally on Robinhood. Maybe not. But every dollar still lands in the same bank account.
Compare this to the bar every modern president set before Trump. Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm in a blind trust. Reagan, both Bushes, and Clinton followed. Barack Obama held only Treasury bonds and index funds. The job was supposed to cost you, not pay you. According to Forbes, Trump’s net worth is $6.1 billion today, up from $2.4 billion in 2021. The math speaks for itself.
We notice this. According to a Program for Public Consultation survey at the University of Maryland, 87 percent of us want presidents, vice presidents, and Supreme Court justices banned from trading individual stocks: 87 percent of Republicans, 90 percent of Democrats, and 82 percent of independents. Almost nothing in American politics unites us this completely.
Whoever wins in 2028 inherits these rules. Lifetime audit immunity. Branded business empires abroad. Personal portfolios in regulated industries. Whatever flavor of politician you fear most, that is the playbook they walk into.
Call your senator. Demand a vote on bipartisan trading bans for Congress and the executive branch. The rules apply to all of us or to none of us. There is no third option. Go beyond the headlines…
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