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The Star
08-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
How Trump's business ventures conflict with his presidential duties
President Donald Trump just launched a fragrance called Trump Victory 45 - 47, part of the "Fight Fight Fight Collection". The lid of the $249 (R4 427) bottle is a (obviously) gold statuette of Trump, tummy flat, shoulders back, looking like the Oscar for Best President in the World Ever. You get $100 off if you buy two. The President's fragrances, for there is one for boys, one for girls, is "For Patriots Who Never Back Down, Like President Trump. This Scent Is Your Rallying Cry In A Bottle. Featuring Trump's Iconic Image And Raised Fist, This Limited-Edition Cologne Embodies Strength, Power, And Victory." And yes, the first letter of every word is capitalised. Since Trump took office, the Trump Store launched 168 new products, including clothing, hats, BBQ snacks, pickleball racquets, coffee cups, earrings, a beer bucket, pet food bowls, ice cream scoops and a hip flask. You can also buy sneakers ("Trump Won") on the side), luxury watches, with the Trump Victory Tourbillion selling for $100 000. There are coins ($3 645 for the "Victory Gold Medallion"), Trump Bibles (KJV version of the bible, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and most importantly, the handwritten chorus of Lee Greenwood's song 'God Bless the USA'). And let us not forget the $TRUMP meme coin, which netted the Family Trump hundreds of millions. The top 25 "investors" spent over $111 million to secure exclusive perks such as a VIP dinner with Trump. When someone takes the highest office, we expect them to at least pretend like they are working for the best interests of the whole country and not just those who pay them. The incredible harm done to South Africa by Jacob Zuma was not in the R246m house the public gifted him, but in the message it sent. Zuma was open for business, just not the country's business. It is lukewarm comfort that anyone who lives in a house built by Public Works is no doubt dealing with a leaky roof dodgy plumbing, and mould on the walls. In this world, government policies are bought and sold by the wealthiest and paid for by the poorest. This has to some degree, always been so, but when this was considered shameful at least government ministers were more cautious. This has now been normalised to such a degree that the world's wealthiest man gave $250 million (0.08% of Musk's wealth) to get Trump elected. For a hot minute it looked like this might have been Musk's best investment, only for the two to fight like scorned lovers. Trump 1; Musk 0. The author Yuen Yuen Ang writes 'China is not a pure meritocracy, nor is it a pure kleptocracy. It is a corrupt meritocracy.' Ang notes that 'corruption is so endemic that it has generated its own vocabulary. For instance, a 'naked official' refers to an official whose family and assets are moved abroad, while he remains in China to retain power. 'Elegant bribery' refers to the use of art, calligraphy, or antiques as bribes instead of cash.' Yet even with all this so clearly understood, it is still shameful to be considered corrupt in China. A ' wall of shame ' displaying portraits of corrupt officials symbolises public accountability efforts and the stigma attached to corruption, showing that exposure can bring public disgrace and official punishment. Of course the top dog is safe and allegations of corruption are used to bludgeon opposition, but the greater Chinese society is not celebrating corruption. When there is no consequence for corruption, not even shame, it is very difficult for a society to hold together. If the main man can sell access to his power then why can't you pay the metro policewoman some "money for a cool drink"? Why should you not drive drunk if you have some "lunch money" on you? We should all be horrified when Trump said "over expansive and unpredictable FCPA [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act] enforcement against American citizens and businesses — by our own Government — for routine business practices in other nations not only wastes limited prosecutorial resources that could be dedicated to preserving American freedoms, but actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security. I was proud when Ramaphosa took a 14kg golf book as a gift for Trump, rather than gifting him an aircraft, although it's silly to think that Trump is a great reader. The well-worn trope that "sunlight is the best disinfectant" now seems quaint when corruption is now openly celebrated. This not ok.
IOL News
08-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
How Trump's business ventures conflict with his presidential duties
US President Donald Trump. Image: Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP President Donald Trump just launched a fragrance called Trump Victory 45 - 47, part of the "Fight Fight Fight Collection". The lid of the $249 (R4 427) bottle is a (obviously) gold statuette of Trump, tummy flat, shoulders back, looking like the Oscar for Best President in the World Ever. You get $100 off if you buy two. The President's fragrances, for there is one for boys, one for girls, is "For Patriots Who Never Back Down, Like President Trump. This Scent Is Your Rallying Cry In A Bottle. Featuring Trump's Iconic Image And Raised Fist, This Limited-Edition Cologne Embodies Strength, Power, And Victory." And yes, the first letter of every word is capitalised. Since Trump took office, the Trump Store launched 168 new products, including clothing, hats, BBQ snacks, pickleball racquets, coffee cups, earrings, a beer bucket, pet food bowls, ice cream scoops and a hip flask. You can also buy sneakers ("Trump Won") on the side), luxury watches, with the Trump Victory Tourbillion selling for $100 000. There are coins ($3 645 for the "Victory Gold Medallion"), Trump Bibles (KJV version of the bible, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and most importantly, the handwritten chorus of Lee Greenwood's song 'God Bless the USA'). And let us not forget the $TRUMP meme coin, which netted the Family Trump hundreds of millions. The top 25 "investors" spent over $111 million to secure exclusive perks such as a VIP dinner with Trump. When someone takes the highest office, we expect them to at least pretend like they are working for the best interests of the whole country and not just those who pay them. The incredible harm done to South Africa by Jacob Zuma was not in the R246m house the public gifted him, but in the message it sent. Zuma was open for business, just not the country's business. It is lukewarm comfort that anyone who lives in a house built by Public Works is no doubt dealing with a leaky roof dodgy plumbing, and mould on the walls. In this world, government policies are bought and sold by the wealthiest and paid for by the poorest. This has to some degree, always been so, but when this was considered shameful at least government ministers were more cautious. This has now been normalised to such a degree that the world's wealthiest man gave $250 million (0.08% of Musk's wealth) to get Trump elected. For a hot minute it looked like this might have been Musk's best investment, only for the two to fight like scorned lovers. Trump 1; Musk 0. The author Yuen Yuen Ang writes 'China is not a pure meritocracy, nor is it a pure kleptocracy. It is a corrupt meritocracy.' Ang notes that 'corruption is so endemic that it has generated its own vocabulary. For instance, a 'naked official' refers to an official whose family and assets are moved abroad, while he remains in China to retain power. 'Elegant bribery' refers to the use of art, calligraphy, or antiques as bribes instead of cash.' Yet even with all this so clearly understood, it is still shameful to be considered corrupt in China. A 'wall of shame' displaying portraits of corrupt officials symbolises public accountability efforts and the stigma attached to corruption, showing that exposure can bring public disgrace and official punishment. Of course the top dog is safe and allegations of corruption are used to bludgeon opposition, but the greater Chinese society is not celebrating corruption. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ When there is no consequence for corruption, not even shame, it is very difficult for a society to hold together. If the main man can sell access to his power then why can't you pay the metro policewoman some "money for a cool drink"? Why should you not drive drunk if you have some "lunch money" on you? We should all be horrified when Trump said "over expansive and unpredictable FCPA [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act] enforcement against American citizens and businesses — by our own Government — for routine business practices in other nations not only wastes limited prosecutorial resources that could be dedicated to preserving American freedoms, but actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security. I was proud when Ramaphosa took a 14kg golf book as a gift for Trump, rather than gifting him an aircraft, although it's silly to think that Trump is a great reader. The well-worn trope that "sunlight is the best disinfectant" now seems quaint when corruption is now openly celebrated. This not ok. Donald MacKay is founder and chief executive of XA Global Trade Advisors. Image: Supplied
Bloomberg
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Congress Doesn't Need Term Limits. Presidents Do.
This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a political shapeshifter who morphs into whatever suits Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. On Sundays, we look at the major themes of the week past and how they will define the week ahead. Sign up for the daily newsletter here. Do you have fifty bucks and no shame? Then this can be yours from the official Trump Store!
Atlantic
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
America's Most Famous Escalator, a Decade Later
America's most famous escalator is a bit of a tourist trap these days. Exactly a decade ago, the gold-rimmed conveyor carried Donald Trump into the basement of his eponymous New York tower and down into the bowels of American politics. His seconds-long descent has lingered in the national memory more vividly than his 45-minute speech that followed, an inflection point so widely cited—try Googling since Trump rode down the golden escalator—that it borders on cliché. On a recent Monday afternoon, the escalator that launched the MAGA movement carried a steady stream of sight-seeking fans into the atrium of Trump Tower, where they could pay tribute to the president with purchases at Trump Grill (still on the menu: the Southwest Taco Bowl, immortalized in tweet, for $25), the Trump Store, Trump Sweets, and, for slightly less-expensive tchotchkes, a souvenir shop tucked away around the corner. A floor above, the Trump faithful posed in front of a flag-flanked, gold-plated 45 insignia—a historical marker that has yet to be updated for the president's second term. All that was missing was a plaque commemorating the campaign launch that started it all, which took place 10 years ago today. Hardly anyone who attended that 2015 event— myself included —thought it would take Trump remotely close to the White House. That he would become, in the estimation of this magazine, 'the most consequential American leader of the 21st century' was utterly unthinkable. Trump had flirted with a presidential campaign multiple times before, passing on a bid each time. Most reporters doubted that he would follow through in 2016; if he did, many presumed, he would quit before he ever had to file the financial-disclosure forms required of a candidate. (In time, Trump would buck the tradition of releasing his tax returns to the public.) Russell Berman: The 'carnival barker' joins the 2016 race The Democratic Party, which would later decry Trump as an authoritarian threat to the nation's founding principles, initially spared him any criticism, choosing instead to welcome him to the presidential race and use him as a foil to Republican contenders—such as Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio—who it believed stood a greater chance of winning. 'He adds some much-needed seriousness that has previously been lacking from the GOP field,' a spokesperson for the Democrats quipped to me at the time, 'and we look forward to hearing more about his ideas for the nation.' Trump, too, had other things on his mind besides winning. In place of a detailed policy platform, his aides handed reporters a folder containing a document that assessed his net worth at $8.7 billion, a release aimed at confronting widespread doubts that Trump was as rich as he always said he was. (For good measure, the candidate-to-be also devoted a chunk of his speech to the question of his wealth.) In some ways, that initial event was entirely unlike the mega-rallies that would become Trump's campaign staple. He packed the press—as yet unbranded as 'fake news' or the 'enemy of the people'—in the front and forced his supporters (some of whom were paid to attend) to watch his speech from the floors above. What's most striking about candidate Trump of June 2015 is how similar he is to President Trump of June 2025. To the pride of his supporters and the chagrin of his opponents, he has changed American politics more in the past decade than it has changed him. As I noted back then, he opened his campaign with a lie about crowd size. 'Thousands,' he said, exaggerating a turnout that numbered, at most, a couple of hundred people. Countless more falsehoods have followed in the decade since. The preoccupations of that first campaign speech—illegal immigration and foreign trade—remain the focus of his second administration. Trump's most oft-quoted lines from his announcement are from his diatribe against undocumented immigrants. ('When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best,' he said. 'They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.') But the first issue of substance he discussed was trade and included a riff on tariffs. 'When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let's say, China in a trade deal? They kill us,' Trump complained, less than a minute into his remarks. From the June 2025 issue: 'I run the country and the world' On display, too, was Trump's vision of himself as a leader who would act on his own, unburdened by constraints imposed by Congress or the courts. (He mentioned neither anywhere in the speech.) At one point, Trump described an imagined scenario in which, as president, he would personally threaten the CEO of Ford with a '35 percent tax' on the sale of every car unless he moved a then-planned factory from Mexico back to the United States. The corporate titan, Trump assured the crowd, would cave quickly. Earlier this spring, the president issued a public warning to Apple's Tim Cook that he would slap a large tariff on any iPhones constructed outside the U.S—a threat nearly identical to the one he'd laid out in his campaign debut. Trump himself has folded more times than he'd ever admit. He ditched his long-ago pledge to 'drain the swamp' in favor of open profiteering off the presidency. And he's largely abandoned Trump Tower as a base of operations. During his first campaign, Trump returned to his New York home almost nightly, and after his surprise election in 2016, he conducted most of his interviews with would-be Cabinet secretaries there. Job-seekers and other supplicants, on their way to meetings upstairs, paraded amid reporters staked out in the lobby. For much of Trump's first term and beyond, Trump Tower became a backdrop for press conferences and protests by Democrats—and the occasional pledge of political fealty by Republicans. But Trump eventually stopped returning to a city that had soured on him. He decamped to warmer climes (politically as well as meteorologically). His resorts in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Bedminster, New Jersey, were far more spacious and easier to secure. Although First Lady Melania Trump and the couple's son, Barron, still spend significant time at Trump Tower, the president does not. No one was protesting when I visited Trump Tower last week. The visible security presence—a couple of police cruisers and a private guard out front—was not large by New York City standards. In the atrium, however, the president's supporters gave the Trump Organization plenty of business. 'It looks exactly like it does on TV!' marveled Amy Head, a 48-year-old history teacher from Albany, Georgia. Seeing Trump Tower, she said, was a priority for her family's trip to Manhattan, which also included tickets to The Lion King on Broadway and a tour of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. 'We've been supporting him ever since he came down the golden escalator,' Head said of Trump as we stood a few feet away from it. 'And we'll vote for him again, too, if we can.' In a couple of cases, the praise from Trump fans I spoke with on Monday echoed, down to the word, the comments his supporters (paid or otherwise) made to me a decade ago, when he first launched his campaign at that very spot. 'He's not a politician. He's a businessman,' Nathan Nielsen, a 50-year-old from Utah, explained. 'He doesn't have to do this. He's doing it for us.' A few minutes later, a guide was ushering a large group of high-school students down the escalator. Was Trump Tower now an official tour stop, I wondered? Not exactly, the guide, Mike Koenig, told me. 'I avoid this place like the plague,' he said. This was simply the nearest (or, at least, the cleanest) public restroom to Central Park.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Jr. has 'ZERO interest' in a 2028 run, but isn't ruling out possibility of a political future
Donald Trump Jr. is not ruling out the possibility of a political future, but asserts that he has no interest in making a run "anytime soon." At the Qatar Economic Forum, he fielded a question about the possibility of running for office after his father steps down. During his response he did not close the door on the prospect, saying, "I don't know. Maybe one day … that calling is there." Less Than 4 Months Into Trump's 2Nd Term, Dems Are Already Eyeing The 2028 Race But he asserted in a post on X that he is not at all interested in pursuing office in 2028. "And FWIW, I've always said, while I'll never 100% rule it out down the line, I have ZERO interest in running for office in 28 or anytime soon," he said in a portion of that post. Read On The Fox News App Trump Store Sparks Buzz And Debate With New Trump 2028 Merchandise Donald Trump Jr. is President Donald Trump's eldest child. The president just began his second term about four months ago. JD VANCE ASKED ABOUT POTENTIAL 2028 PRESIDENTIAL RUN IN 'FOX & FRIENDS' EXCLUSIVE There have been two father-son pairs in U.S. history who both served as president: George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and John Adams and John Quincy article source: Donald Trump Jr. has 'ZERO interest' in a 2028 run, but isn't ruling out possibility of a political future
