"It's difficult to overstate how significantly the world of foreign lobbying has transformed in the past few months. An industry that was once relegated to backrooms and back channels is now blasted out in public statements and social media posts. From India to Oman to Romania and beyond, governments are lavishing Donald Trump with luxury jets, high-rise towers, resorts, and crypto investments-and the president is unashamed, even bragging about it."
"The most recent example was the staggering multibillion-dollar deal between the Trump administration and the dictatorship in the United Arab Emirates, which saw a crypto transaction net the Trump family potentially tens of millions of dollars and the UAE gain access to high-end chips, despite legitimate national-security concerns. But that was only the latest in a litany of scandals. There was the $400 million jumbo jet that the Qatari dictatorship gifted to Trump."
Foreign lobbying has shifted from covert backroom maneuvers to overt public displays of influence, with multiple governments lavishing Donald Trump and his family with luxury gifts, investments, and development deals. Massive transactions include a multibillion-dollar UAE deal involving crypto and access to advanced chips, a $400 million jumbo jet from Qatar, fast-tracked development in Vietnam, and new Trump investments in Serbia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. These transactions create potential conflicts of interest, bypass legal safeguards, and raise significant national-security and ethical concerns. The administration's opacity and the ease of covert financial transfers, including memecoin donations, exacerbate the risks.
Read at The Nation
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