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From shaky to robust, 6 months of Donald Trump's second presidency revive his business fortunes
US President Donald Trump (left) and US First Lady Melania Trump (right) applaud as they watch the Army 250th Anniversary Parade from the Ellipse in Washington DC on June 14, 2025. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP)
US President Donald Trump's net worth is almost impossible to accurately estimate because of a complex web that money travels through in his sprawling family and business ventures. But one thing is as clear as day: he has profited from the presidency like no one else in American history.
Consider this: In 2023, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth to be $2.5 billion. In March 2025, it rose to $5.1 billion and it rose to $5.2 billion by July.
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Since 2023, Trump has floated his own cryptocurrency, invested in cryptocurrency ventures, and launched a range of merchandise that brings him and his family money. While Forbes has shown that his net worth more than doubled between late 2023 early 2025 as he first secured the Republican presidential nomination and then won the election, independent analyses have shown that his real net worth would be much more.
Trump's total net worth from cryptocurrencies (as much as $7.1 billion), stocks, bonds, and cash (at least $2.2 billion), and real estate and other business holdings
(at least $1.3 billion), and fees and royalties (at least $631 million in 2024) is around $11.23 billion, according to The New York Times.
No line between personal and the professional
The line between the personal and professional has ceased to exist as Trump's children and friends cut deals by using his name and he secures plush deals for himself from foreign governments, such as the luxury aeroplane from Qatar that's essentially a personal gift to him — not to the US government.
Trump has also sold seats for private dinners for millions after assuming the office.
There are direct conflicts of interest. For example, cryptocurrency industry figures who have attended such dinners by paying him and his family millions have sought deregulation of industry. There are already signs that they are getting their way.
One such guest, Chinese billionaire Justin Sun, paid Trump more than $40 million to become one of the largest holders of his $TRUMP cryptocurrency. He was accused by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2023 of fraud, but the case against him has been put on hold under the Trump administration — an apparent instance of a quid pro quo.
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Amazon owner Jeff Bezos has announced a film on First Lady Melania Trump that will reportedly pay her as much as $28 million.
Trump is also getting a $200 million-worth luxury aeroplane from Qatar. Notably, it is not planned to be a government-to-government deal. The Trump administration plans to donate the aeroplane to the Trump presidential library after the completion of the term which would make it Trump's private property. In simple words, Trump would receive a luxury plane from Qatar as president and then transfer it to him for his personal use as a private citizen.
Does public even care about corruption?
Trump's brazen use of the presidency for personal enrichment has led many to ask a basic question: does public even care about ethics and corruption?
When Hillary Clinton was First Lady, a scandal broke out when it emerged that her investment of $1,000 in 1980s had made her $100,000. Compare that to the money that Melania is making off her husband's name: $28 million. Yet there is barely any outrage.
The Trump family is also selling $500,000 membership of a private club in Washington DC, but, again there is barely any outrage.
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Either the general public never cared about this or the public did care about it but no longer does, according to Paul Rosenzweig, a senior counsel to Ken Starr's investigation of former President Bill Clinton, and later served in the George W Bush administration.
Rosenzweig told The Times that he believes the answer is that '80 per cent, the public never cared' and '20 per cent, we are overwhelmed and exhausted'.
'Outrage hasn't died. It was always just a figment of elite imagination,' said Rosenzweig.
As Trump has two other co-equal branches of the government in his pocket as well, the Congress and the Judiciary, there is little scope of his and his family's profiteering facing any scrutiny. Some Democrats are hopeful they could generate public backlash.
'It is unlikely he is going to be held accountable through traditional means. There are going to be no special counsels; there's going to be no DOJ [Department of Justice] action. And so it's really just about public mobilization and politics. If Republicans keep paying a price for the corruption by losing special elections throughout the next year, maybe that causes them to rethink their complicity,' Senate Chris Murphy told The Times.
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