The Qatari royal family has given the Republican President a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 plane. His acceptance of the gift is a direct violation of the “Emoluments Clause” of the Constitution which states:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
– Constitution of the United States, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8
Of course the Republican President doesn’t believe the Constitution should stand in the way of his acquiring a shiny new toy. The plane is so over-the-top luxurious it is referred to as “a flying palace.” He toured the plane in February when it was parked at the West Palm Beach Airport.
The plane has supposedly been given to the Air Force to be used as Air Force One but the plan requires it to be eventually given to the Republican’s “presidential library foundation” for unspecified uses. Although the President’s spokespeople try to spin it as a gift to the Defense Department, he clearly understands it to be a gift to himself.
These countries aren’t padding DT’s pockets because they like him. They are paying him in order to get things from the U.S. government without having to make any actual policy concessions that would benefit the U.S. people.
– Senator Chris Murphy
Crypto corruption
The Republican President owns 60 percent of a company called World Liberty Financial and gets 75 percent of all sales fees. His two oldest sons are actively involved in the management of the company. On January 17, 2025, the company launched a meme coin called $TRUMP. Less than 48 hours later, it launched a coin called $MELANIA.
It is important to remember that these “crypto-currencies” have no inherent value at all and are backed by nothing. Their only value is the willingness of people to buy them. [The same is technically true of the US dollar, but the dollar has a long history of support around the world and is backed by the trustworthiness (“full faith and credit”) of the US government (if there still is such a thing)].
In just 3 weeks, more than 813,00 investors in these meme coins had lost a total of $2 billion. Meanwhile the President and his partners made $100 million in trading fees.
But the true purpose of the “currency” is to allow foreign nationals and other entities seeking to influence US policy to buy access to a sitting US president.
For example, after Chinese Billionaire, Justin Sun, invested $75 million into World Liberty Financial, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “mysteriously” dropped its fraud investigation against him.
Now anyone in world can essentially deposit money into a bank account of the President of the USA with a couple clicks. Every favor — geopolitical, corporate or personal — is now on sale, right out in the open.”
-Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director
Dinner with the President
On April 22, the coin’s web site announced that the top 25 buyers of $TRUMP will be invited to “an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President” and a “Special White House Tour.” And the top 220 would be invited to a dinner with the President.
After this announcement, the “value” of the $TRUMP coin jumped more than 50% to a total of $2.7 billion. This is a clear example of manipulating a market for personal gain.
This dinner is an “unprecedented pay-to-play scheme to provide access to the presidency to the highest bidder.”
-Senator Richard Blumenthal, (D) Connecticut
The black-tie dinner and private reception occurred on Thursday, May 22, 2025 at the President’s Golf Club near Washington, DC. The list of attendees is being kept a secret, though some outed themselves on social media.
An analysis indicates that 19 of the top 25 holders of $TRUMP used foreign exchanges to buy their coins. This strongly suggests that these people are not US citizens. Accordingly, this is another violation of the Constitutional ban on a President receiving foreign gifts. It is not clear whether these 25 will actually receive the promised tour of the White House.
At the dinner, the Republican President gave a 20 minute speech in which he bragged (yet again) about his election victory. Reportedly, he did not interact with the crowd at all. Even the top 25 “VIP” persons were not allowed to speak or shake hands with the President. But his staff will remember for him who his friends are when they need a favor.
This dinner is “the most brazenly corrupt thing a President has ever done.”
-Senator Chris Murphy, (D) Connecticut
Middle-East bribery tour
From May 13 to 16, 2025, the Republican President visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. He took along with him more than 30 business leaders, but the newswires, such as the Associated Press (AP), were specifically not invited.
During the trip the Republican President secured deals for a Trump Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and two new projects in Riyadh.
In Qatar, in addition to claiming the luxury jet mentioned above, he got a deal for his organization to build a $5.5 billion luxury golf Resort in Qatar. The deal is with a company owned by the Qatari government – this means the President of the United States is directly in business with a foreign government! Lest we forget, Qatar is a major financial supporter of Hamas is also the home of Al-Jazeera.
Just prior to the trip, the President’s organization announced a billion dollar skyscraper hotel in Dubai, UAE. This is a renewal of a previously failed project. This time, however, the UAE is lobbying to be relieved of the current US restrictions preventing them from importing the latest high-level computer chips. Quid pro quo.
Private billionaires club in DC
Meanwhile DJ, Jr. has announced the launch of a new club for the ultra-rich to be located in the “Georgetown” neighborhood of Washington, DC. The membership will be by invitation only and will cost $500,000. The club will be called “Executive Branch” and will cater to business and tech moguls who wish to fraternize with, and seek favor from, members of the Trump administration.
Reportedly, the club, which isn’t yet open, already has a waiting list.
Removing the guardrails
This Republican administration has deliberately destroyed the ability of the Federal government to fight public corruption.
Since Inauguration Day, the Justice Department has paused all investigations into corporate foreign bribery, curtailed enforcement of a foreign agent registration law and deemphasized the criminal prosecutions of Russian oligarchs.
-CNN Politics
The Republican President has fired up to 17 inspectors general, who are the government’s the anti-corruption watch dogs, across the Federal government. In addition, prosecutors and law enforcement agents who have been involved in some way in previous cases against the President have been fired.
The Republican President has also fired Hampton Dellinger, who was the head of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The OSC is a watchdog agency which protects federal whistleblowers from retaliation and ensures fair treatment within the Federal workforce. Of course, the Republicans have no interest in justice or in fair treatment of Federal employees.
With the guardrails now gone, the corruption will only increase.
SOURCES:
Plane
Jonathan Karl and Katherine Faulders, “Trump administration poised to accept ‘palace in the sky’ as a gift for Trump from Qatar.” ABC News, May 11, 2025.
Jeremy Bogaisky, “Why the Qataris are Happy to Dump Their 747 on Trump,” Forbes, May 14, 2025.
Crypto
Sasha Rogelberg, “Thousands of investors in Trump’s memecoin lost $2 billion in just weeks while the family and its partners racked up $100 million in trading fees,” Fortune, February 11, 2025.
Allison Morrow, A crypto mogul who invested millions into Trump coins is getting a reprieve on civil fraud charges,” CNN Business, February 28, 2025.
Dinner
Russ Choma, “Trump Crypto Coin Buyers Offered VIP Tour of White House,” Mother Jones, April 23, 2025.
MacKenzie Sigalos, “Trump meme coin surges 50% after top holders offered dinner with the president,” CNBC, April 23, 2025.
Alison Morrow, “At Trump’s memecoin dinner, the guests – who paid for the invite – can count on anonymity,” CNN Business,” May 22, 2025.
Alayna Treene, “Inside the room at Trump’s meme coin dinner,” CNN Politics, May 23, 2025.
Middle East
— “2025 visit by Donald Trump to the Middle East,” Wikipedia.
Laya Neelakandan, “Trump joined by dozens of CEOs during his Middle East trip,” CNBC, May 14, 2025.
Bernard Condon, “Trump company strikes Qatari golf resort deal in a sign it’s not holding back from foreign business,” AP, April, 30, 2025.
— “Trump International Hotel and Tower (Dubai),” Wikipedia.
Amira El-Fekki, “New Trump Tower Announced for Middle East City Skyline,” Newsweek, April 30, 2025.
Senator Chris Murphy, “Trump’s Middle East Trip: This is a National Security Disaster and a Moral Abomination,” YouTube, May 14, 2025.
Club
Dasha Burns, “Trump-aligned club for the ultra rich launches in Washington,” Politico, April 26, 2025.
Guardrails
Hannah Rabinowitz, et al, “How Trump’s Justice Department has gutted the government’s ability to chase public corruption,” CNN Politics, February 14, 2025.
Miscellaneous
Senator Chris Murphy, “Trump’s First 100 Days: This is a Story of Incompetence, Theft, Mind-Blowing Corruption,” YouTube, April 29, 2025.
“Schiff Takes To Senate Floor to Lay Out Trump’s 10 Most Corrupt Acts So Far,” YouTube,
— “World Liberty Financial,” Wikipedia. May 14, 2025.
— “$TRUMP,” Wikipedia.
The Trump team is tearing apart the United States. What kind of world will my grandchildren live in?
Why won’t my Church say anything in response?
I was led to believe my Church would be the final protection of our rights.
That is not the case.
We are betrayed.
I feel exacctly what you have stated here.
The LDS scriptures do set forth clear principles which raise alarms about Trump and Trumpism, if we bother to read them and liken them to ourselves. For instance D&C 98:
“4 And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
5 And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.
6 Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
7 And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil.
8 I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
9 Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.
10 Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.”
Trump, of course, is obviously neither honest, nor wise. And the members of the church are not lockstep advocates of Trump. In a recent blog, Daniel Peterson, quoted a Deseret News article:
“Despite being a red state, Utah is divided on Trump’s job performance. A slight majority, 54%, said they somewhat or strongly approve of what Trump has done so far, and 42% disapprove, while 5% said they don’t know.”
Peterson comments, “By now, I suppose that it won’t surprise anybody who follows this blog that I regard an approval rating of 54% as much higher than Donald Trump deserves. But 54% certainly doesn’t indicate a massive and exceptional Latter-day Saint enthusiasm for Mr. Trump, let along a growing enthrallment with him — and especially not when that figure is compared with, say, his current rate of approval among American Evangelical Protestants.” (72%).
I don’t have to imagine what Hugh Nibley or Eugene England or Hugh B. Brown would thought of Trump. Nibley’s “Victoriosa Loquacitas: The Rise of Rhetoric and the Decline of Everything Else” and his “Freemen and Kingmen in the Book of Mormon” are both terrifyingly and depressingly prophetic on that score. And I know what I have always thought of Trump. I have not heard a single Conference address of lesson from any modern LDS authority that would send me in his direction. Indeed, quite the contrary. Nor, alas, have I gotten the impression from the scriptures or Church history that I should expect Zion all the time in all places. Indeed, Nibley’s essay on “Freemen and Kingmen in the Book of Mormon” directly observes that many members of the church fell for the “flattering words of Amalickiah” Alma 46:7. And the next verse does not justify any sense of grievance or entitlement in setting my expectations for universal perfection amongst the Saints: “Thus we see how quick the children of men do forget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do iniquity, and be led away by the evil one. Yea and we also see the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men.” Alma 46:8-9. When Mike Lee, for instance, likened Trump to Moroni, it is clear that he was not engaged in careful reading and likening the scripture to ourselves, but rather, shallow flattery and sycophancy, trading integrity for power.
And if it ever happened that any of my Latter-day Saint friends of family tried to defend Trumpism to me, I have a great many scriptures to draw upon. For instance, if I invert the arguments and logic of D&C 121 and get this unmistakably apt portrait:
“Power or influence can be maintained by coercion, impatience, brutality, pride, and feigned love. By transactional interactions, and by using rhetoric effectively and saying whatever flatters enough people of the right sort to gain and keep a following, and by projecting our own guilt onto other people, we can paint them as embodying all corruption, and serve our own agenda and ambition at all times.
Reproving constantly and without concern for facts, when moved upon by pride and vanity and ambition, and then afterwards showing an increase of love towards the flag and your allies, that we may be united against whomever we decide is an enemy, whomever we designate as scapegoat, to blame for all our problems and distract attention from our shortcomings,
That people may know better than to criticize or cross you for fear of what will happen to them
Let thy bowels be full of charity to your allies, plot revenge upon your enemies, and let ambition and pride garnish thy thoughts unceasingly, and then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of adoring crowds and sycophants.”
The same sort of thing happens if I invert Paul’s description of charity:
“The opposite of Christ does not suffer long, and is unkind, envieth whoever has what it wants, vaunteth itself constantly, and is notably puffed up,
Behaves unseemly, always seeking its own gain, is easily provoked, and thinks evil of anyone who opposes their ambitions and desires, or is just different
Rejoices in getting away with whatever it wants to do, and bitterly opposes any attempts to call it to account,
Will not put up with anything, believes only what it wants to hear, hopes only for personal gain and power, so that it will never have to endure anything difficult or unpleasant.”
I don’t need to be told from the pulpit that Trumpism and Tantrumocracy is evil and contrary to all LDS principles. I do try to open eyes and enlarge souls on those occasions when I have the chance. And I applaud and encourage Brian here, in trying to open eyes to what is going on.
Great comments! All of my life, I have been sensitive to the evil I see in the world. The more I read, study and pray about the scriptures and their meaning in my life, I see so much of what I have read jumping out every day in people’s behaviors. I am by no means doing everything right, but I think we are very deep into a pride cycle…..and have felt it for a number of years. The fact that 54% of LDS approve of how Trump is running the country sends my head into a spin. He is all about wealth and it is obvious that he will do whatever he can to get wealth for him, his family, friends and the wealthy in this country. I struggle with my family members and friends who think I am one of the evil Democrats that Trump has raved about since at least 2015. I am sorry to say this, but when the Prop 8 issue was going on, members of the church did everything to keep it from passing, and it was talked about openly in the Church…but I haven’t heard crickets from the Church about what Trump is doing from anyone in the Church and it makes me sad.