The incoming US president Donald Trump has hit the jackpot. And not just because, come January, he will again be the leader of the free world and one of the most powerful men on the planet. But because he is nothing if not wholly self-interested, retaking the White House gives him all new opportunities for self-dealing and self-enrichment.
Trump’s first term was a financial boondoggle for the nation, and a boon for him. His companies made $160m from foreign governments that may have been looking to gain favour after he refused to divest from his businesses; his golf courses in the UK alone reportedly grossed his businesses by $58m (“Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world,” he tweeted about his Trump International Scotland course in May 2019. “Also, furthers U.K. relationship!”). The Qataris spent $6.5m on an apartment in Trump World Tower. The Saudis, he told a crowd of supporters in 2015, “buy apartments from me. They spend $40m, $50m… Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.” True to his word, Trump has continued cultivating ties with Saudi Arabia, despite the country’s involvement in the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Earlier this month, just weeks before he takes office, the Trump Organization signed a new property deal with the kingdom, which has an abysmal human rights record.
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