What did Donald Trump do today?

He appointed at least his eighth billionaire so far to a major government position.

Today, Trump said that he would appoint investment banker Warren Stephens as the United States' ambassador to the United Kingdom. 

In some respects, Stephens is an unusual choice for a prominent position in the Trump administration. He has never been publicly accused of rape or sexual assault, nor has he been caught covering up the sexual abuse of children at his businesses. He has never been accused or convicted of federal crimes, meaning he has never had to beg Trump for a pardon. He is not related by blood or marriage to Trump. He did not get the job by being someone Trump saw on TV. And while major ambassadorships often require extensive diplomatic experience, the posting to the Court of St. James has traditionally been a ceremonial one, with professional State Department staff carrying most of the load, so Stephens' complete lack of relevant experience is less of an issue.

There is one way that Stephens fits the Trump mold, though—he's one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a net worth of $3.4 billion dollars. That is roughly 42,178 years' worth of the median annual household income in the United States.

Stephens (inherited money; family investment banking firm) joins other Trump (inherited money and evaded taxes; family real estate company) appointees with billions of dollars in wealth, including

• Charles Kushner, ambassador to France ($1.5B, inherited money; family real estate company)
• Linda McMahon, secretary of education ($3B; wealth from husband's entertainment company)
• Steve Witkoff, envoy to the Middle East ($1B, real estate)
• Massad Boulos, senior advisor ($10B, inherited money; family business conglomerate)
• Scott Bessent, secretary of the treasury ($1B, hedge funds and investment banking)
• Vivek Ramaswamy, honorary advisory board on "governmental efficiency" ($1.1B, inherited money; hedge funds and venture capital)
• Elon Musk, honorary advisory board on "governmental efficiency" (~$330B, inherited money; credit card processing, auto manufacturing, and government contracts)

Why does this matter?

• Having money, especially inherited money, is not the same thing as being qualified.

• It's bad if you need an unbelievable amount of money to have influence in the United States government.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He pushed Charles Kushner as the U.S. Ambassador to France.

In a post to his private social media network today, Trump said that Charles Kushner was a "tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker" and the founder of "one of the largest & most successful privately held Real Estate firms in the Nation." 

He also acknowledged that Charles is the father of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. Jared, who could not pass a security clearance check, was nevertheless put in charge of Middle East policy during Trump's first term. He then received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Arabian royal family while Trump was still in office.

What Trump did not mention was that Charles Kushner is a convicted felon who served time in prison after being convicted of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. (Perhaps not coincidentally, these are all things that Trump himself is known to have done.)

As part of that scheme, Kushner hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, and arranged to record a sexual encounter between the two. He then sent the tape to his own sister in an effort to intimidate her into not testifying against him. Chris Christie, then a U.S. Attorney and since a prominent Republican politician, called it "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he had ever prosecuted.

Trump also did not mention that he pardoned Kushner for that "loathsome, disgusting crime" on the way out the door of his first term.

Why does this matter?

• It's insulting and counterproductive to make a felon the ambassador to a major military ally just because he's the crony of the president.

• People who commit "loathsome, disgusting crimes" shouldn't be given offices of public trust.