President Donald Trump reportedly regrets that he didn't capitalize more on his first term in office, and he's not letting opportunities to cash in pass him by the second time around.
The president is hosting the top 220 holders of his $TRUMP memecoin Thursday at his golf resort outside Washington, D.C., who have poured about $150 million into the coin's value, which directly benefits the Trump family, and Rolling Stone reported this is just the latest example of him using public office for personal benefit.
"Sources with direct knowledge of the matter tell Rolling Stone that one of the lessons Trump took away from his previous stint in the White House is that he was wrong to leave a ton of money on the table as president," the magazine reported.
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"The president himself has privately said this on multiple occasions in recent months and years, according to two people who’ve been in the room with him," the publication added. "In moments of casual banter, Trump has mentioned that it was 'stupid' of other Republicans and advisers to convince him — at least on occasion — to side with government ethicists who cautioned him from obliterating the line between public good and private gain."
Trump doesn't see any difference between his private interest or the public good, according to one of the sources, who said the president likes to say "a deal is a deal," and the White House has not constrained his apparent conflicts of interest.
“There are no conflicts of interest," stated White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. "President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. It is shameful that Rolling Stone is ignoring the GOOD deals President Trump has secured for the American people, not for himself, to push a false narrative. President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.”
Trump seems to believe his position as president enhances the luster of his personal brand, and the Trump Organization has capitalized on that by reaching deals to build developments overseas, such as its recent agreement to build a $1.5 billion luxury residential development and golf club in Vietnam.
"In venting to close allies about accusations of open corruption and, effectively, bribes from foreign entities and regimes, the president has said that any nation or city overseas should be proud to have a Trump Tower or other new Trump family property built there," Rolling Stone reported. "This is, Trump says, in part because such a building now carries the 'prestige' of not only his brand name, but the United States as a whole, [according to] one of sources who’s been in the room with Trump in recent months."
"Both in public and behind closed doors, Trump often repeats a new mantra: It does not matter how much lucrative new business the Trump Organization or his children engage in while Trump is the president, because he and his family are so wealthy that he doesn’t need that new cash flow or windfalls," the magazine added, "and therefore, he must be unbribable."
