The character of Robin Hood has been the subject of over 70 movies and several television series. I first saw Errol Flynn star as the thief who stole from the rich to give to the poor. Later I watched Richard Greene portray Robin of Locksley in the 1950s British television series. There have been many films made where thieves have been portrayed as likeable characters. The Sting, To Catch a Thief, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were all entertaining movies involving charismatic central characters who bent or broke the law to take what wasn’t theirs.
It will be interesting to see if anyone ever makes another such movie where the central thieves are the president of the United States and his merry band of relatives. Such a film, if close to reality, would be the antithesis of the Robin Hood theme as it would involve taking from the poor to give to the rich. It would involve corruption without redemption and would be a difficult sell if not for the fact that it would be based on a true story.
Before 2025, could anyone have imagined that someone in the public trust would have the audacity to openly steal from that public and brag about his success? We watched it all unfold before our eyes. The self-appointed king of deals, who literally wrote a book about dealmaking, working his magic to make deals and deals within deals where he becomes the true beneficiary.
Yes, Donald J Trump is the first president to openly use his position as president to invest and benefit from his own decisions made as our president. While he oversees the IRS, appoints its commissioner and other top executives, he has also sued that agency. He then offered to drop his lawsuit if the government would set up a $1.7 billion dollar slush fund that he would control without oversight. The claimed use of that fund would be to compensate those harmed by the Biden administration, but since the fund would have no oversight and since he would fully control the distribution of funds, he could claim that he had been harmed and pocket the entire amount.
The original lawsuit claims that Trump had been harmed when the IRS disclosed his tax returns to the New York Times. Other presidents normally disclose their tax returns, and he had promised to do so while campaigning, but he has dodged that disclosure claiming that he was always under audit. It is hard to discount the evident corruption here as Donald Trump is in control of both sides of the lawsuit.
In this second example, the president’s stock transactions while in office are another anomaly. Most presidents place such financial activities in the hands of a blind trust but not this one. While he moved the day-to-day operation of the Trump Organization to his son Eric, he still makes his own stock investments. In fact, he made 3,642 stock transactions in the first quarter of this year as evidenced by his mandatory 278-T filings.
Just to grab one benign example, he invested in DoorDash and also participated in a promotional event featuring DoorDash under the cover of promoting his No Tax on Tips policy at the White House. The so-called “DoorDash Grandma” got a $100 tip.
Less benign examples might be Trump’s investments in Nvidia, Apple, Meta, and Micron and then including each of those companies’ representatives in his entourage going to China to promote their businesses. In the case of Jensen Huang of Nvidia, he got to ride on Air Force One and had a $50 billion revenue opportunity in China. As a result, Trump’s investment in Nvidia benefitted and that stock rose over 19% in the past month.
It might be noted that Eric Trump also flew on Air Force One to China, but he doesn’t have to file 278-Ts. He only traveled with his father as his emotional support animal. Eric was visibly upset when it was announced in the Financial Times and then repeated by Jen Psaki on MS Now, that he was on the board of Alt5 Sigma. He threatened to sue Psaki and her network because she mentioned the Alt5 connection.
Eric Trump denies that he is on the board of that company which is pursuing a deal with a Chinese chipmaker (linked to the ruling Communist Party) to build data centers in the U.S. The problem here is that he was introduced as a board member and “director” of Alt5 Sigma during the NASDAQ opening bell ceremony on August 13, 2025. That opening bell ceremony was to celebrate a $1.5 billion treasury deal between Alt5 Sigma and World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a cryptocurrency venture founded by the Trump family.
It can be noted that shortly after this ceremony, and after a consultation with the SEC, Eric had his voting director role quietly changed to “board observer.” While this title change for Eric might distance him a tiny bit, both companies are joined at the hip as Alt5 Sigma was formed with $1.5 billion of the Trump family’s WLFI tokens. It might further be noted that WLFI’s cofounder, Zach Witkoff is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alt5 Sigma. So, cry as he may, Eric the companion animal to Daddy Donald was not just on this trip to China to curl up on his lap or walk obediently by his side.
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