During just four days last week, President Donald Trump was at the center of three major scandals that, in any other presidency, would dominate the news cycle for months.
But in the current political climate, they barely made headlines.
As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich put it on X:
“Last week: Trump pardoned Binance’s founder after a $2B deal with his crypto firm. Hegseth awards a huge DoD contract to a Don Jr.-backed firm. Trump orders his DOJ cronies pay him $230M in ‘compensation.’ We must not become numb to this.”
Popular Information outlined the developments, noting that the normalization of corruption has made the media hesitant to fully confront Trump’s actions.
“For Trump, enriching himself and his family is one of the core purposes of his presidency,” Judd Legum wrote.
The first involved Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ. Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to prevent money laundering on Binance.
The Justice Department said his actions “allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers.” Zhao served four months in prison and resigned as CEO.
After Trump’s 2024 reelection, Binance conducted several transactions with companies linked to Trump and his family.
Most notably, the company accepted a $2 billion investment from a UAE state fund using USD1, a stablecoin created by Trump’s firm World Liberty Financial, in which Trump’s family owns about 38%.
According to Bloomberg, Binance “wrote the basic code to power USD1” and promoted it to millions of users.
On Thursday, Trump granted Zhao a presidential pardon. Trump said he did so “at the request of a lot of very good people” who claimed Zhao did not even commit a crime.
Records show Zhao hired Ches McDowell, a friend of Donald Trump Jr., to lobby for “executive relief” just weeks before the pardon.
A Pentagon Contract for Trump Jr.’s Drone Company
The second controversy involved Trump Jr. and an obscure drone company called Unusual Machines. After the 2024 election, Trump Jr. joined the company as an advisor and was granted 200,000 shares.
He later helped screen candidates for top Pentagon jobs and pushed for greater defense spending on drones.
When Pete Hegseth became Defense Secretary, he changed rules to favor U.S. drone manufacturers like Unusual Machines.
The Financial Times reported the company “won its largest contract from the Pentagon” to supply thousands of drone parts to the Army.
Both Trump Jr. and the company’s CEO denied that his White House connections influenced the deal.
Trump’s $230 Million Claim Against His Own DOJ
The third scandal centered on Trump demanding $230 million from the Department of Justice, claiming he was “persecuted” by past federal investigations.
The claims were filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows citizens to seek compensation for government misconduct.
In most cases, these claims fail. But in Trump’s case, the officials reviewing the request, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, both previously served as defense lawyers for Trump and his allies.
Trump even admitted the conflict of interest, saying:
“I’m the one that makes the decision, and that decision would have to go across my desk, and it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”
Legal experts noted that any such payment would be unconstitutional, since the president cannot receive additional compensation from the federal government.
A Presidency Without Accountability
These three back-to-back scandals, a pardon of a convicted crypto CEO, a lucrative defense contract tied to the president’s son, and a demand for $230 million in personal compensation from the Justice Department, would have been defining moments in any other presidency.
But under Trump, they barely make a dent in the news cycle.
Popular Information pointed out that this pattern of behavior is no longer surprising to many Americans, even as it undermines the basic principles of democratic accountability.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has also warned that the public risks accepting such conduct as business as usual.
The bigger concern isn’t just the conduct itself, but the erosion of outrage, institutional pushback, and public pressure that once kept it in check.
IMAGE CREDIT: “President Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image adjusted for layout.