(Image: reve.art) 
As the end of the year approaches, I cast around for one story that would encapsulate the year for me. Perhaps, the obvious - AI. Or the legitimisation of crypto. Or Gaza or Ukraine. Or the startling reality of Chinese ascendance. Or the polarisation of politics, seemingly everywhere. But there is one 2025 story from the House of Trump, triggered by an announcement last week, that needs to be stitched together from many pieces into a coherent narrative.
There was a time, not so long ago, when presidents pretended to care about conflicts of interest. Jimmy Carter sold his peanut farm. George HW Bush put his assets in a blind trust. Even George W Bush divested from his oil holdings. These men laboured under the quaint delusion that public service and private enrichment ought to remain separate endeavours.
The Trump family has no such hang-ups. The White House position has been that the president placed his assets into a trust managed by his children, and therefore "there is nothing to see here, folks". One can imagine a Trump family dinner when Trump Jr says, "We can’t talk about business, Dad." Then everyone looks at everyone else, whereafter the table bursts into uproarious laughter.
In 2025, the extended Trump clan has transformed the American presidency into perhaps the most lucrative family business since the Medicis ran Florence. According to The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick, the first family has accumulated an estimated $3.4 billion since Donald Trump first entered politics – with the bulk of that haul materialising in just the past twelve months. We are talking about generational wealth conjured from mostly thin air and an apparently inexhaustible supply of willing investors.
The crown jewel of Trump family enterprises in 2025 has been cryptocurrency – an industry the president once dismissed as "a scam against the dollar" before discovering its utility as a portable wealth-transfer mechanism with minimal regulatory oversight. The $TRUMP meme coin, launched mere days before the inauguration, briefly made the president one of the world’s richest men on paper when its market capitalisation topped $14 billion. The coin has since cratered some 90 per cent from its peak, leaving an estimated 764,000 retail investors nursing losses. The Trump family, who retained 80 per cent of the token supply, had already collected over $350-million in fees and sales. And, of course, there is the $MELANIA meme coin – another quick bag of swag.
Then there is World Liberty Financial (WLF), the DeFi platform majority owned by the Trumps, which has attracted investments from figures including Justin Sun – a Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur facing SEC fraud allegations – and a $2-billion injection from an Abu Dhabi-linked fund via Binance. I have read WLF’s DeFi proposition and it is a confused word salad with little in the way of a solid, differentiated proposition. If the Trump name was not on the shingle, I doubt anyone would have funded the company.
Not content with tokens and stablecoins, sons Eric and Donald Jr launched American Bitcoin in partnership with Hut 8 Mining in April. The venture debuted on the Nasdaq under the ticker $ABTC, briefly valuing the brothers’ 20% stake at over $2.6-billion before the stock subsequently plunged 70%. Eric Trump, serving as chief strategy officer, insisted the company’s "fundamentals are virtually unmatched" even as early investors fled. The timing proved impeccable – launching a Bitcoin mining company just as the administration rolled back crypto regulations and created a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Last week brought perhaps the most audacious pivot yet: Trump Media & Technology Group, the struggling parent company of Truth Social (which reported quarterly revenue of just $972,900 against losses of $54.8-million), announced a $6-billion merger with TAE Technologies, a nuclear fusion developer. The combined entity will be co-led by Devin Nunes – the former congressman turned media executive – and TAE’s CEO. If you’re thinking, "That’s an unusual pairing," congratulations: so does every rational commentator with half a brain. A social network is not supposed to become a nuclear fusion utility, for goodness' sake.
Some find it amusing, but it isn’t – not really. Fusion energy, for the uninitiated, has been "thirty years away" for approximately sixty years. TAE hopes to bring its first power plant online by 2031, though commercial viability remains, charitably, speculative. What the merger does accomplish immediately is transforming a meme stock with minimal revenue into a player in an industry that could receive billions in federal subsidies – subsidies determined by an administration in which the president’s son sits on the company board. And no one seems the slightest bit concerned. (When Hunter Biden joined the board of an energy company, the right wing shrieked in outrage).
Son-in-law Jared Kushner, now a billionaire according to Forbes, has watched his Affinity Partners investment firm swell to nearly $5 billion in assets under management. The fund’s largest investor? Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which committed $2-billion after Kushner left his White House role. In 2025, Kushner has resurfaced as an unofficial diplomat, conducting negotiations with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, while simultaneously emerging as a financing partner in Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. The potential acquisition would place CNN – the president’s most despised news outlet – partially under Trump family influence.
Donald Trump Jr has kept busy partnering with venture capital firm 1789 Capital and taking online gun retailer GrabAGun public on the NYSE. The price has subsequently dropped by 70%. His private members' club in Washington charges approximately $500,000 in annual fees. Eric Trump, meanwhile, globe-trots to crypto conferences in Hong Kong and Tokyo, exhorting audiences to "buy right now" while insisting there is a "total separation of church and state" between the family’s business dealings and his father’s administration. Uh-huh.
Beyond the headline-grabbing ventures lies a merchandise empire of impressive breadth: Trump-branded watches ($2.8-million in revenue), sneakers and fragrances ($2.5-million), "God Bless the USA" Bibles ($1.3-million), guitars ($1-million), and NFT trading cards depicting the president as a buff superhero. In June, the family announced Trump Mobile, a $499 smartphone and $47.45 monthly service plan. The price point – $47.45 – commemorates his status as the 47th president, in case anyone missed the symbolism.
Tallying the Take
Calculating the precise windfall is difficult; the Trump financial structure resembles a nesting doll of LLCs, trusts, and offshore arrangements. I asked three different AIs to piece together available data. Here is what they found:
- Cryptocurrency ventures: $800+ million (R13.6-billion) in realised gains (first half 2025), with paper holdings potentially worth billions more.
- Affinity Partners (Jared Kushner): Billions under management, with an estimated $120-million from Saudi Arabia alone.
- Legal settlements (Meta, ABC, Paramount/CBS): Approximately $127-million.
- Melania’s Amazon documentary deal: $28-million.
- Real estate licensing deals (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Vietnam, Qatar): Tens of millions in fees.
- Merchandise and branded products: Approximately $10+ million.
- Eric/Don Jr’s American Bitcoin stake (at peak): $2.6-billion on paper.
- Trump Media stake: Approximately 42% of a company now valued at $6+ billion post-fusion merger.
A conservative estimate of realised cash (as opposed to paper value, which is much higher) to the extended Trump family in 2025 is approximately between $1.5-billion and $2-billion.
What makes this enterprise truly remarkable is its shamelessness. Previous presidential grifts (which no one is naive enough to believe haven’t happened) at least had the decency to hide themselves. The Trumps have discovered something simpler: if you commit your conflicts of interest in broad daylight, with sufficient volume and velocity, the public simply cannot keep up, quickly giving up on outrage. And at every turn, the brand grows stronger – not despite the conflicts, but because of them.
To the MAGA faithful, the dealing and dealing and dealing serves as evidence of their champion’s mastery – proof that he alone can work the system.
At this rate, don’t be surprised if the next Trump Media press release announces a merger with a quantum computing lab, a soy protein company, or a football league. In this strange new world, the "business rationale" is always the same: if the brand can travel there, so can the money. DM