Washington. A plane given as a gift from Qatar, dubious stock deals, dubious crypto transactions - US President Donald Trump and his family have been making financial profit from it since the beginning of his term in office. US media repeatedly picked up the topic. But for a long time there was no big outcry. “Nobody cares,” Trump said in an interview with The New York Times earlier this year about the deals he and his family do.
But shortly before the important midterm elections, the mood is changing. On November 3rd, the entire House of Representatives, parts of the Senate and new governors in several states will be elected. The election is seen as a landmark for the rest of Trump's term in office.
Just days before the vote, several polls show that corruption has become the most important issue among voters. On Friday, the TV channel CNBC published a survey in which 36 percent of respondents named government corruption as one of the country's most important current problems. The cost of food and other everyday goods came in second place at 34 percent, followed by the protection of democracy and gasoline prices, each mentioned by 23 percent.
Many Americans “extremely concerned” about corruption
A survey commissioned by the right-wing conservative broadcaster Fox News had previously come to a similar result. It found that 88 percent of Americans said they were “very” or “extremely concerned” about government corruption, ahead of inflation and high prices (85 percent) and gasoline prices (83 percent).
According to a survey published on Sunday by the Financial Times and the company Focaldata, 69 percent of all Americans and 50 percent of those who voted for Trump in 2024 said they were “concerned” or “very worried” about corruption, insider trading or conflicts of interest in the current US government. A recent poll by the Washington Post and NBC News shows that two-thirds of Americans believe Trump is using his office to enrich himself.
This change in mood comes at an inopportune time for the US President and his party. Trump's approval ratings have fallen steadily in recent months. Currently, on average in surveys, only around 37 percent of all Americans are satisfied with him. Individual surveys see the Republican as even less popular: in the last survey by Ipsos on behalf of the Reuters news agency, he only achieved an approval rating of 31 percent.
Although the US President himself is not on the ballot, the vote is traditionally seen as a mid-term review for the incumbent government.
For Trump himself, the presidency has already been financially worthwhile. Since the start of his second term, his wealth has grown by 183 percent to $6.5 billion, according to Forbes. The main reason for this is his investments in cryptocurrencies, but his other investments also generate a lot of money.
The Wall Street Journal reported that representatives of a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates had apparently signed a contract with the Trump family shortly before Donald Trump's inauguration as US President. The Arabs bought 49 percent of the crypto company World Liberty Financial (WLF) for half a billion dollars. Trump founded the crypto company together with his sons.
Last week, a lawsuit was filed against this and other crypto deals in which Trump and his family benefited directly or indirectly.
While the US President is still on the campaign trail, preparations are already underway for the latest event in which he will mix his office with his business. A big gala dinner for his Trump coin is planned for November 22nd. The event is advertised as “an evening with three legends and President Donald J. Trump.” The largest 185 investors in the cryptocurrency are invited. Anyone who buys a particularly large number of Trump coins is even counted among the 29 VIPs.
Clarification required
Several US senators called for clarification in a letter to Trump's White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, on Thursday. It says that the “largest $TRUMP coin holders” are determined using a formula that is simply described as: “The more you hold and the longer you hold, (…) the higher you rise.” “This dinner and rating mechanism appears designed precisely to increase investment in $TRUMP, allowing the President to abuse the power of his office for personal gain, as he has done throughout his term in office.” The letter is signed by several Democratic senators.
Trump's numerous pardons for convicted criminals also raise questions. Since taking office, he has pardoned hundreds of people, including drug traffickers, bank robbers and money launderers. The case of Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, the world's largest crypto trading platform, caused a particular stir. Zhao pleaded guilty to violating U.S. money laundering laws and was sentenced to a hefty fine and prison. In October 2025, Trump pardoned him. Just recently, Binance had made transactions that favored World Liberty. Critics, including a group of Democratic lawmakers, saw this as a conflict of interest. The White House denied any wrongdoing.
Other events also attracted criticism. The US Department of Justice, which was massively influenced by Trump, had a court case against Gautam Adani, India's richest man, discontinued. As the New York Times reported, Adani's legal team had previously suggested in a meeting with Justice Department officials that Adani could invest $10 billion in the United States if the case was resolved. Here too, the US government, in this case the Justice Department, denied any wrongdoing.
In some cases, Trump openly accepted gifts of enormous value. Qatar gave him an aircraft worth an estimated $400 million. Trump gratefully accepted it last year. He rejected criticism of this. Refusing, Trump said, would have been “stupid.”
How party preference shapes judgments about Trump
A survey by the Norc Center for Public Affairs Research on behalf of the AP news agency shows how widely the assessment of Trump's enrichment differs depending on party preference. Seven percent of Republicans say Trump's enrichment is illegal. 21 percent said his behavior was unethical but did not break the law. On the other hand, 78 percent of Democrats believe that Trump acted illegally and 11 percent believe that he behaved at least unethically. Opinions are split among independent voters: 29 percent said Trump's behavior was illegal and 21 percent said it was unethical.
In the USA, public perception of corruption is generally widespread. Experts attribute this, among other things, to the system of election donations. In an interview with Handelsblatt, Gary Kalman, US director of Transparency International, said that Americans already distrusted their politicians. That has to do with the way election campaigns are financed. Unlike in Germany, American parties rely primarily on private donations.
“For a long time, people have questioned whether politicians actually act in the interests of the public or whether they actually serve the interests of their donors,” says Kalman. There are some among Trump's supporters who say, "Well, historically they've all been corrupt. He's just being more open about it."
Polls confirm this impression: In a Gallup survey, 89 percent of Americans said they believe corruption in government is widespread. For comparison: A similar survey by the European Commission at the beginning of 2026 showed significantly lower values for Germany. When asked whether they believe that corruption is very widespread among national, regional and local politicians, only 45 percent of Germans said yes.
