this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2026
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politics

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For decades, presidents avoided even the appearance of profiting from their office.

Harry Truman refused to lend his name to any business, even in retirement. Richard Nixon so feared a brother might profit off their ties, he had his phone tapped. And George W. Bush dumped his individual stock holdings before taking office.

Donald Trump is taking a different approach.

The family real estate business is undergoing the fastest overseas expansion since its founding a century ago, each deal potentially shaping everything from tariffs to military aid.

Led by Eric, and his brother, Donald Jr., the family business has expanded into cryptocurrencies with ventures that brought in billions of dollars but raised questions about whether some big investors received favorable treatment in return.

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[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 3 points 51 minutes ago

Quit normalizing Trump's bullshit.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 3 hours ago

When we take this country back, the Trumps are ALL going to prison, and the entire Trump fortune will be confiscated under civil forfeiture laws. It will also be illegal to name anything after Trump.

[–] SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

Future?

In case you haven't been paying attention, the plan is for the trump family to rule us for decades.

Wait, the dude profiting off the office may inspire others to profit off the office?

Fucking unbelievable.

[–] Wataba@sh.itjust.works 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Man, yet another thing on the pile of things easily avoidable by FUCKING VOTING.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Well, Kamala cackled and there was the genocide, so I so tots had to stay home and/or vote for a bullshit party. Or at least do so much bitching about the Democratic Party that I convinced others to take that course of action!

And I don't feel the least bit sorry for it, because I'm Morally Superior! Toodles!

--More than a few conversations I've had with a few maximalist contrarians. Some of it IRL, unfortunately.

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world -2 points 4 hours ago

If every moral abstainer/third party voter had voted for Kamala in 2024, Trump would still be President. There simply weren’t enough of them to matter.

[–] CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca 3 points 12 hours ago

Current lawlessness allows potential future lawlessness…

Fucking morons…

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

It should "open the door" to all of these motherfuckers spending the rest of their lives in prison, FFS.

[–] Kronusdark@lemmy.world 62 points 1 day ago (2 children)

We need to elect someone who, among other critical traits, is comfortable with approving bills to limit their own power and the power of their successors.

I don’t believe that will actually be possible.

[–] harmbugler@piefed.social 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

More likely will be a congressional supermajority forcing through such bills. At any rate there are already laws supposed to stop many of these grifts, but they are not enforced.

[–] lectricleopard@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Yeah, there's an outside chance that we elect enough progressive candidates to force some action. Definitely unlikely though, as long as money is speech. Its like the silver spoon is a megaphone now. Or a whole news organization.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

If an individual person can limit their own power, the next person will be able to strip those limitations just as easilly.

What we need is more direct democracy instead of just relying on representatives to do the right thing.

[–] Kronusdark@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’d like to see the ability to recall a sitting president added. Waiting for congress to step in is getting ridiculous.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

And we should be able to directly pass laws, bypassing all branches of the government (including the Supreme Court).

[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

So is entrusting all power to representatives, who, as we've seen many times over, inevitably become corrupt and/or drunk with power.

[–] Monte_Crisco@thelemmy.club 3 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

That’s not necessarily true. We would need the next president to be proactive about working with Congress to design meaningful restraints on the presidency so that they can draft the legislation and the president sign it into law. That way the next next president wouldn’t be able to unilaterally cancel all of those safeguards.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Trump didn't unilaterally cancel the safeguards, though. He spent a decade forming a government of sycophants across all three branches of government. Combine that with the recent Supreme Court (6-3 conservative) ruling that the president is essentially immune from prosecution for a crime if it's an "official act" and Congress (both branches being majority Republican) essentially giving Trump unlimited power by means of not pushing back in any meaningful way, and you get a leader who is allowed to act in a unilateral way. Without that decade of sycophancy buildup, Trump wouldn't have the ability to act unilaterally.

We need to prevent this from ever happening again, and our current system just isn't built for that. We need direct democracy. We need a hard wealth cap. We need to prevent a few people from having extreme amounts of power over a populace.

[–] GuyFawkesV@lemmy.world 15 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Or it could open the door to civil forfeiture of their crime money, with enough fines, penalties, and jail time to wipe the out for life. I like my way better.

[–] stringere@sh.itjust.works 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I've been fanning the flames of that hope for a while now. If they can seize the money in your wallet and charge it eith a crime, they sure as hell can do the same to thrit crime money.

The problem (for now) is that those responsible for bringing charges are unwilling to set that precedent.

[–] GuyFawkesV@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

I’ve put my Dem candidates on notice - they get one more vote. If they don’t get this dealt with (as much as they can given they won’t have the White House) they needn’t bother asking again; the answer will be fuck off you’re worthless.

[–] ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com 29 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yeah, thanks for the news flash... I kinda got that impression when they were advertising canned beans from the oval office.

[–] Atropos@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've not purchased a single goya product since that event.

[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 2 points 23 hours ago

So, those electric contraptions that catch fire and don't let occupants exit are called canned beans?

Learn something new each day.

[–] Bakkoda@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Enforcement of the emoluments clause is all it takes. Enforcement is what's failing in the US.

[–] lectricleopard@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You need to get the sycophants out of congress first. Theyre all intentionally complicit. Ds and Rs.

[–] littlewonder@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Every American who agrees with you needs to VOTE IN THE PRIMARY ELECTIONS at a minimum, or you'll continue to see the same incumbents in the generals. Bonus: not as many people vote in the primaries so your vote "counts" even more.

And if you're in a deep red state, I encourage voting in the Republican primary with the goal of harm reduction. Plus, you could LARP as an anthropomorphic version of a QVC July 4th surplus blowout sale, in order to blend in.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 23 hours ago

Yea. It seems wild the more I think about it that either party can be the same as the president. It's become clear that people on Congress think they work FOR the president when one of their duties is explicitly checking and opposing the president.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Never again let Republican pretend to give a shit about family corruption.

Just more projection... It's almost boring how it's always fucking projection every time.

[–] Monte_Crisco@thelemmy.club 5 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

It frustrates the hell out of me that our mainstream journalists (who are actually able to interview politicians on both sides of the aisle) never ask the Republican congressmen how they feel about Trump’s blatant corruption. Why have they not asked about UAE “investing” $100s of millions in the Trump shitcoin company, and Trump immediately authorizing the sale of super high tech chips to them, which we’ve known for years would be immediately sold to China… which in fact did occur.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 hours ago

They're terrified of losing access

[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It should lead to prison and new laws and constitutional amendments.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 8 points 23 hours ago

No new laws needed. Just enforce the emoluments clause.

[–] Monte_Crisco@thelemmy.club 5 points 23 hours ago

Most of the protections may only require legislation from Congress rather than Amendments, thankfully. I also suspect that Congress should be able to rein in the pardon power in a meaningful way without violating the Constitution. For example, I would think that requiring congressional approval would still be constitutional.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We have laws against treason that just need to be enforced.

[–] 13igTyme@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (3 children)

They will be, but only when a Democrat takes power.

Edit: I realize people are misunderstanding my comment. Following the law and potentially punishing a President only applies when the President is a Democrat. Republicans are above the law.

[–] Jhex@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

I hope you are right but I'm pressing a giant X for doubt

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is naive. Democratic leaders are also rich pieces of shit that don’t give a shit about anyone.

[–] 13igTyme@piefed.social 1 points 19 hours ago

Not really naive. The Democrats are the scapegoats for the rich. Propaganda 101, you need an enemy even if that enemy is internal.

[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 1 points 23 hours ago

Well, it looks like progressive Democrats are making inroads.

BTW, the fact that these new democrats are called progressive really shows how the Democratic party are now the conservatives, and the GOP are essentially far, far right.

[–] Monte_Crisco@thelemmy.club 2 points 23 hours ago

We will need to hold their feet to the fire. Restoring normalcy will not be enough. Accountability for all of the crimes of this administration is crucial. We must make sure that they know that anything less would be interpreted as them being complicit.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago

Politics has always attracted way more sleazy types than honourable types. This just fortifies that. How do we attract the honourable types, who are capable, but want nothing to do with this current bullshit?

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The door's been open...

It's just trump is so bad at hiding it, everyone can notice.

The problem is most people still don't understand it's not new, just being obvious is new.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's not new, but the nazis are 100x more egregious... even more than Bush junior, who already deserved to be tried in the hague and imprisoned for life.

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[–] DaMummy@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 1 day ago

Before Trump, the president who's wealth increased the most from their time in office, was Obama.

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

The capability had always been there but most people who reach that office understand who they're there to serve: the people, not themselves. There's also a fairly obvious conflict of interest along with it not being a particularly principled thing to do.

All of these things the orange moron lacks.

[–] Jhex@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

APNews is nothing but trump sane-washing now...

[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 1 points 22 hours ago

I wonder what repairs are the Dems willing to make, and what safeguards would they try to put in place. No optimism here.

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