Trump drained 'the swamp' to his own properties in Florida and Washington, The New York Times details


President Trump has said he never liked his pledge to "drain the swamp," but his fans did so he kept it in his stable of three-word chants. Once elected, though. "Trump did not merely fail to end Washington's insider culture of lobbying and favor-seeking," The New York Times reports. "He reinvented it, turning his own hotels and resorts into the Beltway’s new back rooms, where public and private business mix and special interests reign," building "a system of direct presidential influence-peddling unrivaled in modern American politics."
To map Trump's own swamp, centered at his hotel in Washington, D.C., and Doral and Mar-a-Lago clubs in Florida, the Times pored over the tax information it has obtained, reviewed hundreds of social media posts by patrons of his properties, and interviewed nearly 250 business executives, lobbyists, and club members.
The Times investigative team uncovered more than 200 companies, foreign governments, and special interest groups giving money to Trump's properties and reaping benefits from his administration, including 60 customers with business before the government spending $12 million at his family businesses in 2017 and 2018. The Times provided an overview:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Patrons at the properties ranged widely: foreign politicians and Florida sugar barons, a Chinese billionaire and a Serbian prince, clean-energy enthusiasts and their adversaries in the petroleum industry, avowed small-government activists and contractors seeking billions from ever-fattening federal budgets. Mr. Trump’s administration delivered them funding and laws and land. He handed them appointments to task forces and ambassadorships, victories as weighty as a presidential directive and as ephemeral as a presidential tweet. [The New York Times]
White House spokesman Judd Deere told the Times that Trump has "turned over-day-to-day responsibilities" to sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and claimed Trump "kept his promise every day to the American people to fight for them, drain the swam, and always put America first."
The people who paid to interact with Trump at his properties did not always get what they wanted, the Times reports, but Trump's heavily indebted family business always got paid, thanks to this "lucrative new revenue stream: people who wanted something from the president." Read the extensive details at The New York Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
5 weather-beaten cartoons about the Texas floods
Cartoons Artists take on funding cuts, politicizing tragedy, and more
-
What has the Dalai Lama achieved?
The Explainer Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has just turned 90, and he has been clarifying his reincarnation plans
-
Europe's heatwave: the new front line of climate change
In the Spotlight How will the continent adapt to 'bearing the brunt of climate change'?
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loom
Speed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panels
Speed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off