Anyone who wants to keep up with President Trump’s opinions know to go to his social account. There, one finds his area in a set of issues, including military strikes in Somalia, definitions of Canada and Mexico, relations with Russia, the reasons for the collision of deadly aircraft, the American ownership of the Gaza Strip and the budget bill now before Congress.
On Wednesday, for example, after Initial ceasefire talks Between the United States and Russia due to the war in Ukraine, he used an account attacking the leader of Ukraine. “Think about it, a successful comedy spoke modestly, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the United States of America to spend $ 350 billion, to go to an unbeatable war, which had never started,” Presidential He said. “Zelenskyy is the best move quickly or it will not remain a country.”
In some respects, such statements are similar to how Mr. Trump turned into Twitter, which is now called X, into loudspeakers in his first term, when administration officials announced that his participation is the official White House contacts.
But one of the main differences highlights: Mr. Trump is the largest contributor to the Trump group of media and technology, the company that has the social truth, and thus will benefit directly from his publications pushing traffic to the site. Although he put his shares in the field of media in Trump in a box controlled by his older son, the president is still the main withdrawal of the platform that is the company’s signature product.
In fact, his social participation is only a single example of the official intersection of Mr. Trump and the media of Trump. Wednesday, in an extraordinary step, Trump’s media filed a lawsuit against the Brazilian Supreme Court judge, which supervises multiple Criminal investigations to Jeer Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president, who was described by Mr. Trump as one of his “great friends.”
It seems that the lawsuit, which accused the judge illegally on the right’s votes on social media, appears to be an attempt to pressure the foreign judge as he thought about whether he would arrest Mr. Bolsonaro.
Trump also plans to expand social media into financial services, and to open another world of conflicts of interests. This project will include investment cars that industry experts expect the approval of the Securities and Exchange Committee. Mr. Trump nominated Paul Atkins, Republican commissioner for a long time, to be the agency’s head. It is awaiting confirmation by the Senate.
In another clear contradiction to interests, Mr. Trump Devin Nunes choseTrump Media CEO, to be Chairman of the Consultative Council for the President and Sakut Galabi, the company’s general advisor, as a member of the Board of Directors.
All this fits a pattern of the most disturbing violations of the standards that govern as soon as the conflict of interests occurred from what happened during the first term of Mr. Trump, when foreign officials and others agreed on his interest to Mar Lago, his resort in Florida, and to get to know Florida, the luxurious Trump Hotel says near The White House, according to lawyers and ethics experts.
“The potential for conflict of interest has expanded and deepened even to the period of the first president because it has more dangers in a wide range of companies than he did when it was the last time in the White House,” said Daniel Air, a government. An expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, a non -partisan thought tank focused on democracy issues. Even the appearance that is intertwined in that the president’s personal interests intertwine with the public interest “very erosion of our political system,” he said.
“President Trump is committed to using every direct communication line for the American people. Besides his consistent interactions with the Press Corps, this enhances his legacy as a more transparent president in history .
When he was asked to comment, Trump’s spokeswoman criticized the media, saying that she was making wrong hints, but she did not address questions related to his company.
Trump does not make any bones about its strong dependence on Mr. Trump’s fame and popularity. In a file last week with the Supreme Education Council, the company noted that Mr. Trump has the discretionary authority to reduce his social participation in fact, “which can have a negative negative impact on work.”
“Exactly what he should do to avoid mixing his own financial interests and official role.” “He, as other presidents, have in the past, must use the official White House contacts when he talks about the government, not the company he owns,
Mr. Trump’s contacts are also strengthening X, owned by Elon Musk, who is now a great adviser to Mr. Trump and a private government employee. Mr. Trump’s social messages for presidential import routinely on the social media platform of Mr. Musk, usually after a period of time for several hours, are usually re -published, in a clear effort to enhance traffic on the social truth.
Mr. Trump has about 101 million followers on X, compared to nearly nine million on the social truth, a number that has been growing since his election in November.
“Whether it is through the truth, X, Instagram, or any other platform for social media, questions including about re-publishing the president on X, said Mr. Fields, in response to the American people-a long change in the past four years.
While social media companies are only organized by federally, Trump Media’s plans to expand financial services and products will place them directly in light of the jurisdiction of federal organizers.
Trump’s media said earlier this month that she had planned To invest up to $ 250 million in the project to provide financial products that will be developed with Charles Schwab, one of the largest brokerage companies in the country, and a small investment company in New Jersey, Yorkville. Industry experts said that federal organizers may feel pressure to give a favorable treatment for these products.
As of now, the commissioners can be expelled only for the reason, but The Trump administration is escalating a legal challenge for the independence of the Supreme Education Council And various other organizational agencies. The executive thing that was signed on Tuesday requires the White House review of the proposed regulations, and confirms the authority to spend spending on efforts that contradict the presidential priorities and declares that agencies must accept the President and the Ministry of Justice’s interpretation of the law as a binding.
The financial services industry is also supervised by the Financial Consumer Protection Office, which is a federal control agency The White House is now trying to close. Mr. Trump described the agency as the hotbeds of “waste, fraud and abuse” managed by the “evil group” whose only goal is to “destroy people”.
Supporters indicate the fact that the office has returned about $ 21 billion to consumers through its executive procedures.
Earlier this month, Russell T. Feon, who runs the administration and budget office and was named as a new director of the Consumer Agency, Office employees and contractors ordered the suspension of work. Federal judge A temporary cessation To the collective layoffs, erasing data and cutting the financing in the office on Friday, but the future of the agency is deeply suspicious.
Without observation, Kathleen Clark, a professor of law at Washington University in Saint Louis, who specializes in government ethics, said that without monitoring, it would be easier for financial services companies to manage them to consumers. In light of Trump’s media plans, “No wonder he wants to destroy her,” she said.
Ethics experts also warned during the presidential campaign that if Mr. Trump is elected, the social truth may be a clear way to try to influence him. Foreigners, companies and others who seek to influence it can buy shares in companies or ads about the social truth in the efforts made to raise the values of shares and enrich the Trump family.
“The foreign nation is no longer forced to rent a ground in order to classify President Trump’s pocket,” said Ms. Clark.
Since Mr. Trump created the media in 2021, the company has incurred huge losses and has been providing revenue from advertising on the social truth or through video flow. Last year, revenues of $ 3.6 million – less than 12 percent than the previous year – and $ 130 million at expenditures. It seems that many costs are linked to its integration and a public company.
However, it has 777 million dollars in cash, and it seems that it has been generated by integrating and selling stocks, especially to Yorkville. The market value is $ 6.6 billion, approximately 2000 times its revenues 2024.
While Mr. Trump is not an officer or manager of Trump’s media company, he owns 53 percent of the company’s shares, a share that is now valued at about $ 3.5 billion. Those shares were transferred in December To a confidence that only Donald Trump Junior, his eldest son and a member of the company’s board of directors.
But many legal experts said that the procedure does nothing to address the links between his personal financial interests and his role as president.
Mrs. Clark said: “Whether it is completely unrelated confidence, because the money ends in the Trump pocket,” said Ms. Clark.
Jolly Tate The research contributed.
