The Donor Class Pays The Mob Boss— The Grift That Ate Democracy

Slush Fund Nation— $239 Million for the King of Corruption

It’s not how Trump raised the quarter billion dollars for his inaugural committee, it’s how much of the money will wind up in his own pockets. Theodore Schleifer mostly steered clear of that in his NY Times report last night. He seemed more interested in who gave what. $239 million flooded in, “a norm-shattering amount fueled by corporate America’s desire to curry favor with a famously transactional president. The total, disclosed in a filing with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday, is more than double the previous record of $107 million set by Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017. About 140 different people or companies gave at least $1 million to the effort, including blue-chip companies like JPMorgan Chase, Delta Air Lines and Target… Many of the donations to Trump’s inauguration were previously announced— such as $1 million each from tech giants like Meta and Amazon— in part because companies wanted it known widely that they were backing Trump’s formal return to power.  But the report revealed a few names not well-publicized, including several friends of Elon Musk, such as tech investors like John Hering, Ken Howery and Keith Rabois, who each gave $1 million… The three largest contributions came from a poultry producer, Pilgrim’s, which donated $5 million; a [criminal] crypto company, Ripple Inc., which donated just under that; and Warren Stephens, a Republican donor who gave $4 million on the same day, Dec. 2, that Trump named him as his pick to be ambassador to Britain.”

Talk about transactional! And most of that money didn’t get spent on the inaugural celebrations. “[T]he amount raised,” wrote Schleifer, “will resurface questions about where any leftover funds might go. The committee has not said how much money it has spent, but the president’s [lackeys] have said that the remaining amount will be funneled to other Trump-sponsored projects, primarily a nonprofit organization that will build his presidential library.” That was it— one little hint about the “left-over” cash and it was back to how it was raised:

Contributions to inaugural festivities have long been used by corporate interests to cultivate allies in an incoming administration, but the amount raised by Trump is exceedingly high by historical standards. George W. Bush, for instance, collected $30 million in 2001 (roughly $55 million in today’s dollars). Four years ago, Joe Biden collected $62 million (nearly $76 million in 2025 dollars) for his inauguration, though that celebration was pared down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

President Trump’s total in 2017 was twice as much as any president-elect had ever raised for an inauguration. The $346 million raised by his two inaugural committees is more than the nominal amount raised by all other inaugural committees combined since Richard Nixon’s $4 million in 1973.

The haul this year by Trump’s inaugural committee was so large that some seven-figure donors were not guaranteed access to premier events because those functions were full. Trump’s committee accepted a total of roughly $245 million, but issued about $6 million in refunds, including a $50,000 check from the Miss Universe Organization, which Trump used to own.

But let’s not pretend this is just about who donated and how much. Like I said, the real story is what happens after the checks clear. Based on everything we know about Trump—his sham university, his fake charity, his brazen self-dealing while in office— does anyone seriously believe the leftover cash from this grotesque windfall won’t find its way into his pockets? This is a man who charged the Secret Service his own hotel rates just to protect him, who funneled taxpayer dollars into his own properties, who made a second career of monetizing public office.

This isn’t politics as usual. It’s not even legalized corruption. It’s a kleptocracy in plain sight— an open-air auction where billionaires and corporations throw cash at Trump not just to get in the room, but to keep the grift going. The inaugural fund is just the latest slush pile. And with a shameless hustler like Trump at the top, you can bet the last dime will be squeezed for personal gain— a smash-and-grab operation, tribute paid to a mafia boss returning to power. Corporate America isn’t “donating” so much as placing bets, hoping that when the looting begins, they’ll be on the inside. This isn’t some abstract concern about ethics in government. This is the machinery of oligarchy grinding into high gear, where wealth begets access, and access becomes immunity. The inaugural committee is a legalistic veneer over outright pillaging.

As Orwell warned, the final stage of corruption is when theft becomes indistinguishable from governance. Trump doesn’t hide the grift anymore; it is the brand. This was a gold-plated crime scene with Secret Service detail. The only question now is how many others will follow him down the sewer for a cut of the score.