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Tip-Offs, Tokens, and Tariffs: How Trump’s Barrage of Corruption Suppresses Resistance

Dr. J Reeves

May 1, 2025


Source: Shutterstock


In just 3 months, Trump’s strategy of rapid-fire corruption has shattered laws and norms beyond even his first term. Worse still, this barrage of corruption cases has transformed Americans into pessimistic bystanders in the face of a never-ending circus of scandal.


Insider trading and the exploitation of digital currencies, particularly his controversial meme coin, have contributed to a climate of legal ambiguity and ethical decay. More subtle, but even more perniciously, the chaos surrounding the Trump administration's tariff policies have provided fertile ground for corrupt practices that businesses are forced to undertake. In this article we argue that the overwhelming frequency of such issues has led to a dangerous desensitisation, where each new revelation is swallowed up by the noise of ongoing corruption, leaving US citizens increasingly disillusioned and apathetic. This cumulative effect threatens not just Trump’s America, but the very integrity of American democracy itself.


Buy Low, Leak High: Insider Trading in the Trump Era


We begin with the forms of corruption most people associate with government: market manipulation and insider trading. This typically involves subtle cases—like when politicians buy stocks in industries poised to benefit from policies that they privately know are coming. It's unethical but often hard to prove.


The following recent examples demonstrate that the Trump administration appears to facilitate insider trading. Millions of dollars of AAPL call positions were opened as close to the market trading hours as permitted before the electronics exemption was announced on Saturday April 12. Just 2 minutes before the close on Friday, April 11, someone bought $850,000 worth of $SPY 554 calls expiring Monday and on Saturday April 12, the US released tariff exclusions. Take Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. Ms Greene, who is a staunch ally of Donald Trump, is facing calls for an investigation after she bought into various plummeting stocks, including Lululemon, Dell Computer, Apple Inc and Amazon, right before the surprise tariff exemption news.


This news is unlikely to come to any legal ramifications. When it comes to insider trading in government, the public view it as something that has always occurred. Tolerance for this form of corruption amongst the public is the fault of both parties. Democrats have not worked as a collective voice to ban members of congress from buying and selling stocks while in office. Most famously, Nancy Pelosi has received bipartisan notoriety for having one of the best stock market returns on Wall Street. In late April, Republican Senator Josh Hawley, attempting to subdue this form of corruption, reintroduced the PELOSI Act, attempting to ban lawmakers and their spouses from trading individual stocks while in office (though they may invest in mutual funds, ETFs and Treasury bonds). Pelosi has done significant damage to a party seeking to (rightly) wield the moral foundations of fairness and justice to combat rampant corruption.


Market manipulation is another concern that is highly unethical. Under the Trump administration, this ethical line was crossed in broad daylight. On Wednesday, April 9th, Donald Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that it was a “GREAT TIME TO BUY!” Just three hours later, markets surged on news of a 90-day pause on the administration’s most aggressive tariffs.


The kicker? That message was posted only on Truth Social. In other words, users of the President’s own media company had privileged access to market-moving information. Though not outright insider trading, such actions are clearly corrupt. Investors now have an edge in the market if they use Truth Social, compared to investors who do not use the platform.

 

Trump Coin: Turning Loyal Followers into Bag Holders


Alleged Insider trading is not the only line Trump has blurred between public power and private profit. In a move that blends celebrity branding with political influence, both Donald and Melania Trump launched their own cryptocurrency meme coins—before he even took office for his second term.


Trump, along with his wife Melania, announced their respective meme coins before his inauguration, ostensibly to celebrate his electoral victory. It’s claimed that 80% of the Trump coin's tokens are owned by CIC Digital, an affiliate of Trump’s business empire, alongside another entity called Fight, Fight, Fight, as per their official website. Melania's coin, meanwhile, is marketed by MKT World LLC, a company set up by the First Lady in 2021.



Source: Fox News (2025) – Getty
Source: Fox News (2025) – Getty

Norman Eisen, a former ethics adviser in the Obama administration, described this arrangement as potentially “the single worst conflict of interest in the modern history of the presidency.” Speaking to the Washington Post, he noted that Trump has “the most profound conflict of interest” in the crypto sector, emphasising the contradiction of a president who both seeks to profit from and regulate the industry (Jones 2025).


This concern is not unfounded, as Trump has openly sought to position the US as the global hub for cryptocurrency. His agenda includes dismantling the regulatory framework imposed by the Biden administration, in favour of a more laissez-faire approach to digital currency oversight. The inherent pseudonymity, instantaneous transactions and irreversibility of crypto transactions make it particularly attractive to criminal enterprises and corrupt actors. As with prison welfare, the closest comparable nation to Trump’s stance on cryptocurrency is El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.


On 23 April, Trump’s meme coin saw a surge of over 50%, following the announcement of a private dinner for the top 220 holders at Trump National Golf Club in Washington on 22 May, where Trump will speak on “the future of crypto.” The top 25 holders will also receive a VIP reception and a White House tour. This news, coupled with the release of a new $TRUMP token, propelled the coin’s value to $14.70, its highest point since early March, according to Coinbase data (Stafford & Schmitt 2025). Initially launched just days before Trump’s inauguration, the coin has stirred controversy, skyrocketing from $6 to $75, and drawing accusations of exploitation. Analysis by the Financial Times estimates that the project has already generated a staggering $350 million.


Trump’s involvement with his meme coin has proven financially lucrative. He reportedly made around $100 million in transaction fees alone in January, according to Reuters (Wilson and Conlin, 2025). Shortly after the announcement of a private dinner for top coin holders, insiders made an additional $900,000 in transaction fees within just two days, as reported by Chainalysis. In most G7 nations, such blatant self-enrichment while in office - especially through manipulating the public would be grounds for impeachment and removal. However, in the United States, these stories rarely make headlines. Instead, they have become part of the daily news cycle, with many Americans seemingly desensitised to corruption, as seen from a European perspective.


This wave of self-dealing is evident in the coin’s pump just after the expiration of its lock-up period, enabling holders to sell. Following the announcement of the Trump dinner, insiders cashed out, underscoring the sheer brazenness of the scheme. The meme coin’s market operates as a zero-sum game: profits are made by getting in first and selling out before others can exit.


The Trump family’s influence doesn’t stop there. In February 2025, Justin Sun, whose World Liberty tokens are allegedly backed by the Trump family (receiving 75% of all token profits), invested $75 million into the project. Shortly after, Sun's SEC civil fraud case was paused. World Liberty is just one of many crypto projects tied to the Trump family, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest in Trump’s regulatory approach to digital currencies. The notion that unknown entities might funnel money directly to the President, influencing his decisions, is becoming an increasingly alarming reality.

 

Protectionism or Patronage? Tariffs and the Spoils of Selective Scrutiny


Tariffs are not thought of as vehicles for corruption, but this assessment would be a mistake. The Trump administration’s stated goals for tariffs are mutually exclusive. On the one hand, they are potentially temporary weapons with which to utilise against both friend and foe to achieve ‘better’ trade deals. On the other, they are designed for tax revenue generation to bring down the US budget deficit, while bringing manufacturing back to the United States. They cannot be both temporary tools and permanent economic strategies simultaneously.



Source: CNN 2025, Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
Source: CNN 2025, Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

In this chaos, companies don’t know whether to reinvest into the US because they do not know if they will be permanent, so they are stuck in holding patterns. It is in this paralysis and confusion where corruption can become rife. Tariffs are self-reported by businesses, in a sense that they must report the details of their shipment. However, with daily tariff rule shifts on specific items, components and source regions, it is almost impossible for companies to do this accurately.  


Geopolitics author, Peter Zeihan, states that because around 1,400 key positions in the federal bureaucracy were cut, the organisation and implementation of tariffs, which alternate almost daily, is virtually impossible. For example, a 10-hour glitch in early April caused ships in transit to have different tariff rates and caused US customs to ask companies to declare tariff within ten days of the cargo’s release to customs. The issue with these glitches (they can happen) is that the timing adds fuel to the fire that companies do not believe that the Trump administration has the resources or manpower to enact tariff rules, rules that change by the day.


Zeihan states that, “when you make the rules impossible to follow, the only way businesspeople can function is to have a personal relationship with the people who are enforcing the rules.” Zeihan compares the situation to Russia in the 90s where corruption is the prerequisite of doing business. This form of corruption is far more destructive than cryptocurrency fraud or insider trading, because it forces law-abiding citizens to choose between breaking the law or losing their livelihoods. Social capital erodes much faster than it can be rebuilt. One need only compare the enduring gap between Northern and Southern Italy to see the lasting scars of systemic corruption.


The only way to assess accuracy is to carry out spot checks by the remaining government loyalists. The potential for bribes on a national scale could become a reality - as though the United States had become Peronist Argentina.


However, the tides of public opinion are turning on this administration. Trump has the lowest approval rating this far into a President’s term since records began, with the economy leading the way in this downtrend of support. The Kiel Institute reports what most companies already know. The current trade war between the US and China is likely to be more severe for US consumers. Inflation is likely to rise by over 5% and exports are likely to decline close to 17%. The consequences for China itself are also considerable but much less severe (Kiel Institute 2025). This disastrous tariff rollout has caused a somewhat bipartisan attempt, led by Senator Rand Paul, to rein in executive orders relating to tariffs, arguing that trade deficits do not class as an emergency. Despite the current economic conditions, most Republicans remain either too fearful of Trump or too blindly loyal to oppose his administration. Public opinion would have to decline significantly further before they consider breaking ranks. Meanwhile, lacking a majority in either the House or the Senate, Democrats appear to have largely abandoned efforts to mount a sustained and unified resistance.


The Price of Accountability: Is Economic Pain America’s Last Hope to Halt Trump?


What should concern all readers of this article is that, had the tariffs been more carefully planned - or not introduced at all - President Trump would likely have maintained favourable public approval. Schemes involving meme coins and suspected insider trading—along with Dogecoin-related manipulation, the erosion of key institutions, and the persecution of American citizens for expressing dissent—might have continued unchecked were it not for the public backlash over tariffs. This should raise serious alarm for the United States and its allies. Investors, too, have cause for deep concern. If economic pain is the only language that resonates with Trump’s most ardent supporters, then the troubling implication is that a downturn - perhaps even a recession - may be the only path to accountability.


Like all nations, the US has never been without fault, but this new version of America appears to have entered a troubling phase of kleptocracy and state-level corruption. We selected examples of corruption of just a few months to illustrate the rapidity of Trump’s scandals. It is this flurry of events and news stories that breaks a nation’s ability to mount a serious challenge. Nations descend further into corruption when confusion and pessimism take root among their people - when scandal becomes just another story, buried in the noise. The next four years will be critical if the United States is to reclaim its sense of reason amid the growing cacophony of corruption.






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