PNN – The disclosure of Trump’s hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions in the first quarter of this year shows that political turmoil is not a tool for him to use as a pressure tool, but rather a volatile market from which he, his family, and those around him can profit.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network; the recent release of financial documents for the first quarter of 2026 has raised a serious question: is Trump playing politics or swaying from power as president? According to a Reuters report, he has traded between $220 million and $750 million in stocks and bonds of major American companies during this period, many of which are affected by government decisions.
According to experts, Trump is shocking the markets with his contradictory positions on war, tariffs, and negotiations – such as the recent and ongoing negotiations with Iran – while he, his family, and those around him benefit from the same markets.
Wealth from Power; Trump, Family, and Close Oligarchs
Many believe that Trump’s return to the White House was not just a political event; it was a huge opportunity for him, his family, and a circle of billionaires close to power to increase their wealth and financial influence. The main issue is not that Trump or those around him are rich; the issue is that during his tenure, the line between public power, private gain, family brand, and market interests has blurred in an unprecedented way.
- A President with Growing Wealth and Intertwined Interests
Forbes estimates that Trump’s fortune will reach about $6.5 billion in 2026, about $1.4 billion more than the previous year. These figures, while not definitive, suggest that Trump’s return to power has been accompanied by a significant jump in his personal wealth.
Along with this increase in wealth, new financial disclosures show that Trump traded at least $220 million in U.S. stocks and bonds in the first quarter of 2026, and the value of these trades could reach as much as $750 million in reporting periods. The Trump Organization said the trades were made by third-party managers, but the ethical question remains: A president whose policies can affect stocks in technology, defense, banking and energy companies should not simultaneously have such extensive and active financial interests.
- The Trump Family: Turning a Family Name into a Money-Making Machine
In the case of the Trump family, the crypto and crypto currency sector has become one of the clearest examples of turning political power into economic gain. Reuters wrote in its investigative report that the Trump family earned more than $800 million from the sale of crypto assets in the first half of 2025 alone, and in addition, they probably made billions of dollars in unrealized or “paper” profits.
Reuters also calculated in its methodology report that the Trump Organization generated about $802 million in revenue from crypto projects during the same period, a figure that completely eclipses the family’s traditional income from real estate, golf and branding. This is no longer a typical family business; the president’s family is operating in a market whose regulation, legitimacy and future his administration decides.
- Elon Musk, the Oligarch Close to Power
Elon Musk is a clear symbol of the oligarch close to Trump; someone who is not just a wealthy entrepreneur, but a political actor with direct influence over the government and the markets. Reuters reports that Musk has spent more than $250 million to help Trump win the 2024 election, a figure that would transform him from a casual political supporter to a major investor in Trump’s comeback.
Musk’s wealth, on the other hand, has reached record lows during this same period. Forbes estimated his fortune at $782 billion in May 2026. According to Business Insider, his wealth is estimated at $722 billion. Not all of this increase can be directly attributed to Trump, but it’s impossible to ignore the combination of Musk’s political closeness to the government, his companies’ huge contracts, his influence in policymaking, and the surge in the value of his assets.
- The Circle of the Rich around the Government; the Cabinet and the Crony Economy
From the very beginning, Trump’s second administration was characterized by the presence of billionaires and very wealthy executives. Forbes described Trump’s cabinet in a report as the richest cabinet in American history; a combination that shows that his government not only enjoys the support of the wealthy, but has itself become an environment for the wealthy to directly participate in public decision-making.
This pattern is not limited to the Cabinet; an Associated Press report on Trump’s stock trading notes that some of the companies in his portfolio, including technology and defense companies, are directly affected by government policies. When the president, his family, his donors, and his billionaire cronies all have interests in the markets that the government decides on, that’s not economic success; it’s cronyism, where proximity to power becomes an asset.
Political volatility; from belligerence and contradiction to playing with negotiations
Trump is not only present in the market, but he himself has become one of the main producers of volatility in the market. The difference between him and an ordinary investor is that his every sentence, threat, retreat or promise can move the price of stocks, oil, gold, the dollar and risky assets.
When such a person also has an active financial portfolio, it is no longer a matter of simply managing personal assets; it is a matter of turning political power into a lever to influence the market. The disclosure of thousands of stock transactions in the first quarter of this year, in companies that are affected by his government’s policies, is worrying from this perspective.
Experts believe that Trump’s behavioral pattern feeds the market not with “stability” but with “shock”. On the issue of tariffs, trade war, military threats, sanctions, negotiations and agreements, he has repeatedly pushed investors from risky markets to safe havens and back to risk with sudden messages and rapid changes of positions.
The same pattern has been repeated in dealing with Iran; one day he talks about the progress of negotiations and the proximity of an agreement, the next day he emphasizes that he is in no hurry to reach an agreement and that the blockade will remain until the agreement is signed; one day he talks about the opening of the Strait of Hormuz within the framework of the agreement, the next day he threatens that if Tehran does not come along with the agreement desired by Washington, the US could resume or intensify the attacks!
This contradiction is the dangerous point: instead of being a tool for reducing the crisis, US foreign policy becomes an engine for generating volatility; volatility for which people, energy consumers and economies dependent on oil imports pay the price. From the perspective of public morality, this behavior is nothing but the erosion of trust, disregard for political responsibility and the transformation of war, negotiation, sanctions and peace into tools for private gain and the inner circle of power.