Donald Trump's gigantic self -dealer

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What can you give a person who already has everything? The usual means is somewhat of sentimental value. In Donald Trump's case, Qatar found the perfect mix – a 400 million. -Dollar -jumbo -jet, for which he specified nostalgia in advance. Trump inspected the aircraft at Palm Beach Airport a few weeks after his swearing -in. Long after he had covered the fittings of the aircraft in gold coating, he will connect his next Air Force One to Katar's ruling family. At least they have to hope.

In practice, Trump's gratitude has a limited durability. Ask Mark Zuckerberg from Meta, whose 1 million dollar gift of Trump's inauguration and $ 25 million to pay a merit -free defamation lawsuit, did not save his company from large, threatened fines. With Trump, however, you should never say. Perhaps Zuckerberg will find his own sentimental emolument to ensure the meta -relieving of Trump's antitrust lawyers.

It is no coincidence that Trump's first trip abroad in Saudi Arabia and then in other golf beings – as was in his first term (his latest trip to Rome for Pope Francis' funeral was obviously at short notice). The distinction between public and private is of little importance for the Saud house. Your country is literally named after you. At least theoretically, the US ethics laws have brought Washington to the other end of the spectrum in Riad. In reality, the federal ethics rules are now decorative.

Former civil servants who were obliged to explain gifts of more than a few hundred dollars will be surprised to hear that Trump's lawyers as $ 400 million do not violate the e -constitution. The same applies to the Memecoin $ Trump that Trump published a few days before his waste. The 220 top -220 investors in Trump's purely speculative offer will take part in a private dinner next week. This is also apparently the legal pattern.

Some people play this game fancer than others – only a few better than the royal families of the golf. This month, a Abu Dhabi Investment Fund Stablecoin worth $ 2 billion presented by the majority crypto company of the Trump family World Liberty Financial through the majority of the Trump family. This name is deliberately. On the other hand, Binance is Binance, the crypto Exchange, which has paid a record penalty of $ 4.3 billion for money laundering during Joe Biden's presidency.

Since then, Trump has blocked bidges for semiconductor exports in a group of countries, including the United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates have also promised to invest 1.4 participants in the United States in the next decade. Neither Brussels nor Ottawa could start with it.

Should Central America study the content of Trump's shops, could it have something to say? Most of the alarm has focused on the ghost of Trump's authoritarianism, especially about deportations and freedom of speech. But as the author Anne Applebaum has convincingly argued, Autocracy's Twin is Kleptocracy. The latter seems to get ahead much further. The congress does not even pretend to monitor these conflicts of interest. Maybe Capitol Hill is paralyzed by the width of the choice.

They also raise questions about the motives behind Trump's foreign policy, especially with Qatar. The small golf kingdom has made a large amount to support Hamas by pouring tens of million in gaza strips. It is also host of the Palestinian militant group. But the Trump family has their eye apples in commercial shops with them.

This April the Trump organization concluded a contract with Qatar to build an 18-hole golf course with a luxury brand trump villas. Qatar is also an investor in the son-in-law Trump, Jared Kushner Investment Fund and is expected to reveal at least $ 200 billion for US investments this week. Although large pieces of such numbers could prove to be Mirage, non-patrimonial systems such as Canada cannot work. This offers a great advantage for non -democracies when negotiating Trump.

Such businesses are also difficult to reconcile with Trump's promises from “America First”. Should Qatar be good in his free jumbo jet, Trump's so-called Palace-in-the-sky value would be at the expense of Boeing, which is under contract to reproduce the aging air force one fleet. How will Trump's rash serving of impending golf towers and resorts of America's economic or diplomatic interests? This is open to debates. But the financial thrust for Trump and his family is visible to everyone. The suspicion arises that the true agenda of the US President is first Trump. The rest is the hand.

edward.luce@ft.com

Edward Luces Book “Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's big power prophet” is now out