By Michael Woyton
As the current occupant of the Oval Office tools around in his gifted 747 that we paid to refurbish, he must be celebrating all the money he’s making when he’s not pretending to be leader of the free world.
During the first year of president donald j. felon’s* second term in the White House, it has been reported that his various grifts businesses generated more than $2 billion in income in 2025 alone.
“That is more than triple his reported income from the year before,” PBS News reported, adding the biggest gains were from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.
FREE: Subscribe to On Second Thought now:
When asked about the income, the liar-in-chief said something to the effect that it was put into a “blind account” and that he never speaks to any of the people who run it, “but they’re at big institutions” and the lucre is invested in whatever they invest in.
Sure, Scrooge McDuck, whatever.
At this point I think I’m legally, if not morally, obligated to remind everyone that Jimmy Carter voluntarily gave up control of his peanut farm while he was president in order to avoid conflicts of interest. When he regained control of the farm, there was massive debt.
In any event, the mayor of Mar-a-Lago is doing just fine money-wise — that and staying out of jail. Those were the reasons he ran for a second term, after all.
We can agree, I think, that making $2 billion in a year is pretty sweet.
It more than makes up for the fact that the adjudicated rapist voluntarily put $5 million and change into escrow when a jury award went to writer E. Jean Carroll in the first of her two defamation victories against him.
According to legal analyst Joyce Vance, at the time of the judgment, the president stipulated the money would go to Carroll “immediately” if the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal of the civil verdict.
On Monday, the highest court of the land said that it would not be taking up his appeal, leaving the judgment in Carroll’s favor.
Alas, Vance said, “Donald Trump, in fact, did not honor his agreement. He was not, yet again, a gracious loser. He has not paid up.”
He again, via social media, called Carroll’s claims of being sexually abused fake and said he had never met her, contrary to there being a photograph of them together.
The elderly golfer even had his lawyers brazenly contact Carroll’s attorney “to inquire whether Carroll would consent to a further stay of enforcement” so he could try to persuade the Supremes to reconsider taking up his appeal.
Not surprisingly, Carroll said she “does not consent.”
Translation: Pay up.
In her column, Vance expertly explained the process Carroll’s lawyers are using to force the president’s little hands, even asking a judge to shorten the time the president has to respond from 14 days to seven.
The judge agreed, so it’s up to the convicted felon to respond by July 7.
Tick tock, donnie.
— — — — —
* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.
Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.
Lead art: screen grab from Associated Press via YouTube.
On Second Thought 