Open Forum: Trump's private sector money should bother you - dnronline.com

In a recent letter to the editor a rather mind-blowing statement was made. “Donald Trump’s private sector money doesn’t bother me” (“Government is not the answer,” Feb. 17).

Leland Ropp

Let me give you some reasons why it should. The first is pretty complicated, but I will try to make it as simple as possible. Four days before the inauguration, a deal was signed by Eric Trump with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan for him to buy 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million. The first 250 million installment was divided with $187 million to Trump entities and $31 million to Witkoff entities. A simple investment, correct?

Ah, but the devil is in the details. At the time the deal was signed, World Liberty Financial had no product. Why would somebody put $500 million into something like this? Well, the UAE had been trying desperately to buy the most advanced AI chips and been blocked because of concerns of their ties with Chinese technology and government entities.

In March, a meeting was held in Washington, and four months later, the UAE was granted essentially unlimited access to the most advanced chips. (WSJ Jan. 31, 2026)

Who is Al Nahyan? He is often referred to as the Spy Sheiky, brother of the president of the UAE. He controls entities with over a trillion dollars of investible capital. Do you really think he would throw away $500 million without expecting something in return?

Another example is the gift of the Boeing 747 to Donald Trump by the Qatari government. Mr. President is quoted as saying he “would be stupid not to accept a $400 million gift.” (WSJ May 13, 2025) Are we supposed to believe this gift was given without the expectation of future benefit?

In your letter, you mentioned that you cared more about fraud involving government money. Well, let me give you the example of Joseph Schwarz, nursing home operator. He pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of $38 million. He was pardoned by President Donald Trump after he paid $960,000 to lobbyists with connections to the administration.

The going rate for lobbyists to plead for pardons is $1 million dollars (WSJ Dec. 23-24, 2025) Trump has pardoned thousands of convicted people in his first year, including a former president of Honduras who was convicted of drug trafficking.

President Donald Trump is clearly a transactional person. Everything is a transaction, and what benefits him is personally most important. The trust he established at the start of his term is revocable, meaning all proceeds made during his term as well as principal return to his control.

The examples above are only the tip of the spear. His net worth has gone up $4 billion dollars in his first year. (WSJ Dec. 18, 2025) Everything is for sale to the highest bidder. I don’t know about you, but I am not capable of bidding at these levels. You might ask why all the sources are the WSJ — the Wall Street Journal. That is because it is owned by the Murdock family, which controls Fox News and far from liberal. You can find multiple sources for all of these and more.

Congress is supposed to provide checks and balances to executive power. The party that is in the majority decides what gets investigated. At this point, we are dependent on the Republicans. I would ask Rep. Ben Cline: When are you going to start investigating actual problems instead of litigating the past?

Leland Ropp lives in Harrisonburg.