On the finish of June – within the run-up to The us’s birthday celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – President Donald Trump staged the White Area’s first-ever skilled carrying match. And whilst the UFC Freedom 250 night of combined martial arts used to be ostensibly a part of the July 4 jamboree, Trump took the chance to advertise his circle of relatives’s industry pursuits.
Warring parties had been paid bonuses in US$1 stablecoins, the cryptocurrency owned by way of the Trump circle of relatives, whilst the development itself price a reported US$60 million, a lot of which used to be taxpayers’ cash.
The United States president’s skill to generate profits whilst in place of job has been a focal point of consideration since his monetary experiences for 2025 had been made public on the finish of June. His reported income jumped from US$622 million in 2024 to US$2.2 billion in 2025, the primary 12 months of his 2nd time period.
Whilst he and his circle of relatives declare that there’s no warfare of hobby, there may be no doubt that Trump has been in a position to take advantage of his place. However how does his monetary achieve as president stack up with a few of his fresh predecessors?
The Kennedy circle of relatives had been famously rich. The circle of relatives’s patriarch, Joseph Kennedy, put a few of his cash into trusts for his kids, permitting John Fitzgerald, Robert Francis and generations of long term Kennedys to pursue politics with out monetary fear or conflicts between industry and public provider.
Kennedy’s successor Lyndon B. Johnson owned vital land and a small media empire in Austin, Texas along with his spouse Girl Hen, all of which used to be put right into a blind accept as true with and formally managed with out the Johnsons’ involvement whilst he used to be in place of job.
Throughout the 1972 election cycle, Time mag reported that incumbent president, Richard Nixon had stepped forward his budget by way of simply over US$300,000 all over his first presidential time period, noting that he used to be “not yet a millionaire”. Maximum of Nixon’s monetary property had been tied up in assets and his civil provider pension.
Jimmy Carter’s well-known peanut farm property had been put right into a accept as true with when he gained place of job, and he left the presidency in $1m of debt following droughts in Georgia. Ronald Reagan, who succeeded Carter and used to be no longer a businessmen however a movie actor-turned-politician, got here to place of job with some property. His property – valued in 1981 at about US$4 million, basically made up of his two houses – had been additionally held in accept as true with whilst he used to be in place of job.
George W. Bush made nearly US$15m promoting his stake within the Dallas-based Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1998, whilst he served as governor of Texas. Barack Obama earned cash from royalties on guide gross sales whilst in place of job, however each he and Invoice Clinton have accumulated really extensive wealth since leaving place of job.
None of those presidents looked as if it would leverage their presidency or their symbol to earn cash whilst in place of job in the way in which that Trump has all over his 2nd time period. As an alternative, they tended against ready till the post-presidency years.
Profitable memoirs
Being profitable post-presidency is rarely a brand new tale– the likes of James Buchanan and Ulysses S. Grant penned memoirs to earn cash way back to the nineteenth century. Nixon penned a well-paid memoir and made a profitable and well-known collection of tv interviews with David Frost in 1977 that earned him a base cost of $600,000 – over $3 million in 2026.
In all probability probably the most profitable of those post-presidential careers has belonged to Invoice Clinton. Nonetheless a reasonably younger guy of 54 when he left place of job, he moved right into a public talking and advising occupation. Through 2016, he had made US$189m, US$38m of which had come from memoirs and different writing tasks.
Barack Obama adopted swimsuit, pre-selling the rights to his memoirs right away after leaving place of job for in a mixed guide handle his spouse Michelle reported to be US$60m.
Donald Trump and previous US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Invoice Clinton with their other halves at President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January 2025.
AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin
Obama waited till he had formally stepped down sooner than publicly concluding negotiations with Penguin Random Area, taking the similar pains as his predecessors to steer clear of the accusation of conflicting pursuits between his public provider and personal industry.
Cashing in at the presidency?
No trendy president has come with reference to Trump’s profits, both whilst in place of job or after leaving.
In his first time period Trump made makes an attempt to distinguish his businessman personality from his new occupation. Sean Spicer, his first White Area press secretary, introduced in 2017 that Trump used to be donating his first quarter profits to the Nationwide Park provider, a convention he persisted all the way through his presidency. However he nonetheless accumulated industry revenues of US$2.4b – greater than his predecessors by way of a substantial margin.
However even this might effectively be dwarfed by way of the amount of cash Trump stands to make in his 2nd time period, if the primary 12 months is any information. The forty seventh US president continues to argue that he follows the similar trail as different presidents and that his wealth is controlled at hands’s duration by way of exterior trusts and partnerships.
However the fresh release of Fact API – a paid-for knowledge feed which provides get admission to in “milliseconds” to posts on TruthSocial, a social media platform introduced by way of Trump in February 2022 – has ended in calls from his political fighters for the Securities and Trade Fee to research. Posts by way of the president and different tough folks at the platform are identified to transport markets.
A contemporary ballot by way of CNN has discovered that just about two-thirds of American citizens consider that Trump has long gone too a ways in pursuing his private industry pursuits whilst serving as president. Whether or not this may occasionally harm his birthday celebration’s possibilities within the midterm elections in November is but to be observed. However what is apparent is that the immense sum of money the United States president has earned – and the facility he wields over regulatory programs – now blurs the strains between public place of job and personal industry in some way that few different American leaders have.
