How Trump’s corruption is harming everyday Americans
While Americans across the country struggle with the costs of basic necessities, President Donald Trump is making more money than ever. That isn’t a coincidence. Trump has used the power of the presidency to enrich himself, reward wealthy allies and weaken the safeguards designed to hold his administration accountable.
The result is a government that increasingly works for those with money, connections and access—not the people it’s supposed to serve.
Here are five ways Trump’s corruption is harming everyday Americans.
1. Trump handed enormous power to his biggest financial supporter, putting programs Americans depend on at risk.
Trump gave Elon Musk, the biggest political donor of the 2024 election, extraordinary power to reshape the federal government through DOGE, including sweeping cuts to federal agencies and programs.
The harms caused by DOGE’s cuts to the civil service were obvious and predictable. The administration’s decisions disrupted government functions that protect Americans, including efforts that experts warned could worsen the cyclospora outbreak, diminish severe-weather tracking and heighten national security risks.
And DOGE’s claimed savings have come with their own costs. CREW found that cuts at agencies including USAID, the IRS and the DOJ jeopardized programs that protect public health, support farmers and recover money from fraud and unpaid taxes. The IRS cuts alone were projected to put hundreds of billions of dollars in potential tax revenue at risk.
When a president hands a wealthy political ally enormous power to dismantle government programs and institutions, Americans—not just federal workers—can end up bearing the consequences.
2. Trump is steering taxpayer money and government business to his own properties.
Because Trump never divested from his businesses, he has an unprecedented ability to turn official government activity into business for himself every time he visits his properties, hosts official events or goes golfing at his resorts.
The Secret Service spent nearly $100,000 in taxpayer money at Trump properties in the first months of his second term. By 2022, Secret Service records showed nearly $2 million spent at Trump properties, sometimes exceeding government rate limits to stay at his properties. That figure does not include the hundreds of thousands of dollars other federal agencies spent at his businesses. Trump is visiting his properties and golfing at them even more this term—costing taxpayers an estimated over $100 million. Protecting the president is a necessary use of taxpayer money. But Trump’s decision to spend so much of his presidency at businesses he owns means those security costs can also become revenue for him and his family.
Trump has taken this style of profiteering even further by unilaterally directing the 2026 G20 Summit to his Trump National Doral resort in Miami. The Summit is expected to bring millions of dollars in spending and significant international attention to its host city. By choosing his own property, Trump has given himself and Miami the opportunity to benefit from an event that could have brought jobs, tourism, spending and international exposure to another American city.
The issue isn’t simply that Trump owns businesses, it’s that he can—and does—use the power of the presidency to steer government spending and valuable opportunities toward them.
3. Trump is prioritizing wealthy interests over everyone else.
Trump has created a pay-to-play system in which wealthy interests and corporations can seek access, influence and favorable treatment by paying large sums of money toward his priorities.
Before the 2024 election, Trump reportedly asked oil and gas executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign while promising policy actions favorable to their industry, including drilling and export permits. When Trump took office, he delivered, installing staffers with energy industry ties who delivered win after win for oil and gas companies. 25 separate energy companies paid EPA officials more than $2 million—16 of which have faced agency enforcement actions for violating federal environmental laws. In just the first 100 days of his second term, Trump initiated at least 145 environmental rollbacks. Those rollbacks leave Americans with weaker protections from environmental harms while rewarding the industries that helped finance Trump’s campaign.
And the pattern extends far beyond the energy industry. CREW found that 15 companies—including Meta, Amazon, Coinbase, Google/Youtube and more—contributed to three or more of Trump’s pet projects, such as the White House ballroom, his presidential library or his inauguration. All 15 companies have business before the government or otherwise want something from Trump. In return, corporate donors receive opportunities for access and influence—including meetings with Trump, invitations to exclusive events and other ways to curry favor with the administration.
The same pay-to play mentality is now embedded in Trump’s immigration system through his Gold Card visa program. Under the program, immigrants who can afford to make a $1 million payment to the Department of Commerce’s “gift” account—or who are sponsored by a corporation or similar entity that makes a $2 million payment—can receive expedited U.S. residency. Gold Card applications are sent to a separate set of employees whose primary duty is to adjudicate Gold Card filings rather than the employees who review the tens of thousands of other visa petitions. Because there are annual caps on the issuance of certain visas, giving wealthy applicants access to a separate expedited process could mean they get visas ahead of ordinary applicants—potentially leaving others without a visa when the cap is reached.
For people and companies without millions of dollars to spend, that kind of access simply isn’t available. Trump’s approach gives wealthy interests a direct advantage while leaving everyone else with less influence over the government that is supposed to represent them.
4. Trump’s financial interests are colliding with policies that affect Americans.
A president’s policy decisions should be driven by what is best for the country—not their own financial interests. Yet Trump continues to maintain extensive business interests while making decisions that affect everything from trade and technology to financial regulation and national security.
Trump’s private prison investments offer a striking example. Since returning to office, his brokers have made 29 trades in GEO Group and CoreCivic, companies that have benefited from his administration’s immigration policies. GEO Group now has over $2 billion in ICE contracts, while CoreCivic has secured more than $650 million in ICE contract obligations in 2025. At the same time, fiscal year 2026 is already becoming the deadliest year ever for people detained in ICE custody.
Trump’s business interests abroad raise similar concerns. Dubai-based real estate company DAMAC Properties paid Trump $12.5 million during his first year back in office while another arm of the company, DAMAC Digital, sought to build data centers in the United States, supported by favorable Trump administration policy that’s likely to lead to higher utility costs for Americans who live nearby the data centers. His company is also pursuing a $1.5 billion development in Vietnam and applied for five new trademarks there in 2025. The applications came months after the Trump administration reached an agreement with Vietnam to lower tariffs, after Trump had initially imposed a 46% tariff on Vietnamese goods. This situation raises concerns about foreign governments taking actions that benefit Trump’s businesses while seeking favorable outcomes from his administration.
His family’s crypto interests present another conflict. A company linked to World Liberty Financial, a crypto company co-founded by Trump’s family, was recently granted preliminary approval for a national trust bank charter, while the administration has embraced cryptocurrency as a policy priority. Trump reported making nearly $600 million from World Liberty token and equity sales in 2025, and this approval could financially benefit him and his family even more.
And the conflicts extend to national security. Trump’s sons are potentially making millions by investing in companies that make drones, while the president’s war in Iran has harmed the economy and increased gas prices across the country.
Americans should never have to wonder whether a presidential decision was made because it serves the national interest or because it could benefit the president financially.
5. Trump is enabling fraudsters and wiping out restitution for victims.
The justice system is supposed to protect Americans from fraud and hold people accountable when they steal from or harm others. According to one study, financial fraud cost Americans over $195 billion in 2024. But Trump’s use of the pardon power—and gutting of white-collar criminal enforcement—has sent the message that political connections and loyalty can help wealthy people escape the consequences of their crimes.
A 2026 analysis found that Trump’s pardons, including dozens of white-collar criminals, erased $2 billion in restitution payments and fines owed to victims and American taxpayers. Two of the most appalling examples are Trump’s pardons of Nikola founder Trevor Milton and Skyline Healthcare owner Joseph Schwartz. Milton was sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding investors and prosecutors argued that he should pay more than $660 million in restitution. Schwartz admitted to failing to pay the IRS around $39 million in withheld employee payroll taxes in his nursing home businesses, leaving a significant toll on patients and workers. These crimes have real victims. Defrauded investors can lose their savings, workers can go unpaid and small businesses can be left with bills they cannot collect.
The problem goes beyond Trump’s pardons. In the first six months of his administration, the Justice Department declined more than 23,000 criminal cases, including more than 900 cases involving federal program or procurement fraud. ProPublica found that roughly three times as many major fraud cases were declined under Trump compared to the average of comparable periods under prior administrations.
When wealthy or politically connected people can avoid accountability—and the government becomes less willing to pursue financial crimes—everyone else becomes more vulnerable to being cheated.
Conclusion
The consequences of Trump’s corruption go far beyond any single business deal, pardon or policy decision. When a president uses presidential power for private gain—and weakens the watchdogs meant to keep that power in check—the damage reaches everyone.
And Americans are increasingly noticing what’s at stake: 83% of voters say corruption contributes to public services not working properly, while 89% say it contributes to policies that benefit billionaires and big corporations at the expense of the American people, according to a Brennan Center poll.
The government is supposed to work for the public. But Trump’s corruption changes the rules of who gets access, who gets protected and who gets heard. More than a year and a half into Trump’s presidency, the verdict is in: Trump’s corruption is costing Americans in higher prices, fewer services, health and safety risks and less of a say in any of it.