What did Donald Trump do today?

He claimed to have shaken down $5 billion for a non-governmental slush fund he personally controls.

Trump will hold a meeting of his so-called "Board of Peace" this week. This entity is, in theory, a non-governmental organization comprised of delegates from UN member nations and is tasked with rebuilding and restoring stability to Gaza. 

In practice, it makes Trump personally—independent of whether he remains President of the United States—its chair for as long as he wants to be, and gives him the power to act unilaterally no matter what the member states do. This passage from its charter spells that out—and note that even if Trump is deemed "incapacitated" by every single other member of its board, he can legally dismiss anyone who thinks might act against him before any such vote. He could also make sure that his successor is someone he can trust—for example, a family member.

 

The "Board of Peace" has generally been regarded as a vanity project for Trump, something that more responsible world leaders are using to distract him from further interference in world affairs. But it's also a moneymaking opportunity for Trump, who—as chairman—would control its budget. And since Trump has demanded that member states put up $1 billion dollars for the privilege of membership, that means he can potentially hide real money from any US governmental scrutiny, and use it for whatever purpose he likes. For example, used as bribes, that kind of money might clear the way for the Trump-branded resort he wants to build on what used to be land owned by Gazans.

That kind of calculation may explain why virtually every nation that has accepted his initial invitation is one flavor or another of a dictatorship or authoritarian regime: these are nations with governments that don't object to Trump's methods and understand the value of bribing him with both money and whatever legitimacy he gets from the endorsement of (say) the Putin-aligned dictator of Belarus.

Today, Trump announced he'd gotten $5 billion out of the 22 nations who have said they'll join. There's no proof of this, and as long as Trump intends to hold the money where future American governments can't control it, there never will be. Quite likely for fear of being contradicted, Trump wouldn't say which governments had paid his price.

This is not the first time even in recent months that Trump has created a slush fund that sits deliberately outside of the legal reach of the government he leads. He's also depositing money from the sale of seized Venezuelan oil in a fund based out of Qatar, the hereditary monarchy that has also joined the "Board of Peace" and openly bribed him with a luxury jet to use as his personal property both during and after his presidency. 

Why does this matter?

• Nobody has worked harder to be more easily bribed that Donald Trump.  

• Nobody has ever taken more obvious pride in being someone you can bribe, either.

• Presidents shouldn't profit off their offices, or scheme to retain power after they leave office.