Donald Trump’s White House mirrors “corruption on the scale of a post-Soviet republic or a post-colonial African dictatorship.”
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Corruption In America
It’s tempting to view the Trump administration as a radical departure from the norms of American governance—and in many ways, it is. Corruption, after all, is hardly new to the presidency. From Andrew Jackson’s spoils system to Nixon’s Watergate and the Teapot Dome scandal under Harding, history offers no shortage of ethically compromised White Houses. What sets Trump’s apart is the scale and shamelessness of it all.
“The brazenness of [Donald Trump's] self-enrichment resembles nothing seen in any earlier White House. This is American corruption on the scale of a post-Soviet republic or a postcolonial African dictatorship,” writes David Frum in his article on The Atlantic.
Frum’s assessment is searing, and while the U.S. has endured corrupt administrations before, none have been quite so comfortable displaying it in plain sight.
Massive Levels Of Corruption Under Donald Trump
The structure of American governance has long included elements of centralized power, especially in the executive branch, leading some historians and political theorists to argue that the United States has always maintained autocratic tendencies beneath its democratic framework. However, prior to the Trump administration, most U.S. presidents operated within a shared set of norms that at least maintained the appearance of acting in the public interest and upholding democratic institutions. This is one of the very reasons why the United States has the largest economy in the world. International governments and corporations were able to trust U.S. institutions because they maintained the reputation of being incorruptible. Now, all of that has changed.
With Trump’s presidency, critics have pointed to a breakdown of those conventions and an unprecedented level of corruption, where personal gain and loyalty often seem to outweigh institutional integrity or public accountability. While debates continue about the nature and scope of this shift, many agree that the Trump era brought to the surface vulnerabilities in American democracy that had long gone unaddressed.
Meanwhile, President Trump is illegally lining his pockets. A May 5 report from the Economic Times found that Trump made $320 million from the $TRUMP “memecoin.” The president hosted the top 220 holders of the cryptocurrency at his Virginia golf club outside of Washington, D.C., on May 22, according to CNBC. According to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn, this is “incredibly illegal.” The implications extend far beyond a single financial scandal—critics argue that it blurs the already fragile line between governance and personal enrichment. When the highest office in the land is used to promote and profit from speculative digital assets, it raises serious questions about regulatory integrity, conflicts of interest, and the erosion of public trust in democratic institutions.
Looking Forward
In the end, Donald Trump’s presidency may not have introduced corruption to American politics, but it certainly redefined its visibility and audacity. Where past administrations at least paid lip service to ethics and public service, Trump’s tenure has been marked by a startling openness in self-dealing and personal gain. Frum’s comparison to post-Soviet or post-colonial African regimes may feel jarring, but it underscores a deeper truth: when norms erode and accountability vanishes, even a democracy can begin to resemble the very systems it once claimed to stand apart from and look down on. Whether the country reckons with this chapter or repeats it will depend on how seriously Americans take the lessons of this era.
