Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Am I Being Shaken Down?

Is it just me, or does anybody else occasionally get the feeling that we’re being shaken down?

Not in the traditional sense. Nobody has stopped me on a dark street and demanded my wallet.

No, this is more sophisticated.

This is the presidential version of the shakedown: You keep paying more for everything while the people at the top somehow keep getting richer.

And before somebody fires up the Hunter Biden argument, yes, let’s talk about Hunter Biden.

Because apparently we’re supposed to believe that a son getting a lucrative position because his father was vice president is the greatest example of political corruption since Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma absolutely raised legitimate conflict-of-interest questions. He was the vice president’s son, and his father was the Obama administration’s point person on Ukraine. Even contemporaneous officials expressed concerns about the optics. But multiple investigations found no evidence that Joe Biden altered U.S. policy to benefit his son. Reuters reported that Hunter served as a non-executive director and provided advice on legal, financial and strategic matters. (Investing.com⁠)

So yes, criticize the appearance of a conflict.

That’s fair.

But here’s where my Gen-X bullshit detector starts making that little beep-beep-beep noise.

Because Donald Trump isn’t merely the father of a guy who once sat on the board of a Ukrainian company.

We’re now talking about a sitting president whose family has continued expanding its business empire while he occupies the Oval Office.

Trump’s family crypto operation, World Liberty Financial, involves his sons, and Trump-affiliated entities control a substantial interest in the company. His $TRUMP meme coin also generated an enormous financial windfall for entities connected to his family. Forbes has estimated that Trump’s net worth reached roughly $7.3 billion in 2025, up from about $4.3 billion in 2024, with crypto and Trump Media playing major roles. (Forbes⁠)

And then there’s the business expansion.

Forbes documented a dramatic increase in Trump’s foreign licensing activity after he returned to the White House. The Trump Organization began announcing new ventures in places including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Vietnam, India, Hungary and the Philippines. (Forbes⁠)

Mar-a-Lago’s revenue reportedly jumped 55 percent in 2025, reaching $77 million. (Forbes⁠)

And now Trump’s sons are involved in the drone business.

Aureus Greenway, backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, announced a merger with Powerus, a drone technology company. Powerus subsequently announced a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistani military and an initial order. The Trump sons have said their investment is passive and that they aren’t involved in Powerus’s operations or contract negotiations. (Reuters⁠)

Maybe everything is completely innocent.

Maybe every deal is perfectly legitimate.

Maybe every dollar was earned without anybody ever considering the political power sitting in the background.

But that’s not really the point.

The point is the appearance of the conflict.

Because apparently appearances mattered enormously when Hunter Biden was involved.

Remember all those conversations about access?

About how somebody might pay Hunter because his last name was Biden?

Well, congratulations.

We have now entered the sequel.

Except this time the family business isn’t something happening quietly in the background while Dad is vice president.

Dad is the president.

And Dad’s name is literally on the businesses.

It’s hard to miss the irony.

Trump built a political identity around “draining the swamp.”

But the swamp seems to have discovered cryptocurrency.

It has golf courses.

It has foreign licensing agreements.

It has meme coins.

It has media companies.

It has investment funds.

And apparently now it has drones.

Meanwhile, the average American is standing at the grocery store staring at the receipt like it’s a ransom note.

Gas costs too much.

Groceries cost too much.

Housing costs too much.

Insurance costs too much.

Everything seems to have developed a personal vendetta against the contents of my checking account.

And somehow the people closest to the president keep finding increasingly creative ways to make money.

That’s the part that bothers me.

I’m not saying every increase in the price of bread is somehow deposited directly into Donald Trump’s bank account.

That’s ridiculous.

I’m saying that when the people running the country simultaneously have enormous private financial interests that can benefit from political access, government policy, foreign relationships, cryptocurrency enthusiasm and the Trump brand itself, we should probably be asking questions.

That’s what transparency is for.

That’s what ethics rules are for.

That’s what congressional oversight is for.

And that’s why the Hunter Biden comparison matters.

If your standard is “The president’s family shouldn’t profit from the president’s political position,” then apply that standard consistently.

If Hunter Biden’s Burisma position was worthy of scrutiny—and it was—then Trump’s family businesses deserve scrutiny too.

Not because they’re Democrats.

Not because they’re Republicans.

Not because we like one president and hate another.

Because the principle should be bigger than the politician.

And here’s where the whole thing gets especially absurd.

We’re told that Donald Trump is a businessman who knows how to make money.

Okay.

Apparently he does.

Forbes currently estimates his fortune at about $7 billion, while noting that much of the recent financial growth has been connected to crypto and Trump-related assets. (Forbes⁠)

Good for him.

But I’m old enough to remember when being president was supposed to mean temporarily stepping away from the business of making yourself richer.

George Washington didn’t launch a WashingtonCoin.

Abraham Lincoln didn’t open a Lincoln-branded resort in Qatar.

Dwight Eisenhower didn’t have his sons negotiating defense technology deals while he was sitting in the Oval Office.

The presidency was supposed to be public service.

Not a family enterprise with a really impressive mailing address.

And that’s ultimately what bothers me.

Not that Donald Trump is wealthy.

Not that his children are wealthy.

Not even that they continue to do business.

It’s that we’ve somehow normalized the idea that the presidency and the Trump business empire can exist simultaneously without creating an enormous ethical question.

And when somebody points at it and says, “Hey, isn’t that a problem?”

The response too often becomes:

“But Hunter Biden!”

Fine.

Let’s investigate Hunter Biden.

Let’s investigate Donald Trump Jr.

Let’s investigate Eric Trump.

Let’s investigate anybody else whose family business intersects with government power.

But let’s use the same measuring stick.

Because if corruption is wrong only when the other team’s family does it, then we aren’t actually fighting corruption.

We’re just fighting for our team.

And after everything we’ve been through, I would really prefer not to discover that American politics has become nothing more than two competing protection rackets arguing over who gets to hold the clipboard.

Because I’m already paying enough.

I don’t need a presidential surcharge.