Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to the defenders of Ukraine and the entire modern civilization!
Today in the issue:
- “Peace” for $12 trillion
- Jeff Bezos fired 300 out of 800 journalists from The Washington Post
- Trump demanded to have his name given to a train station in New York and an airport in Washington. And lost the court case about freezing funds for the construction of a tunnel under the Hudson.
- The New York Times: “Greed gradually corrupts the work of the government, as officials work to accumulate personal wealth. Worse, such a government corrupts the people living under its power.”
▶ What could have been assumed about the “peace process” of Trump-Vitkoff-Kushner has become apparent. It is the essence of this process for Trump-Vitkoff-Kushner. It consists of Dmitriev’s proposal, made to his American counterpart, that they will earn $12 trillion on those very “business projects in Russia,” the possibilities of which, as the 47th president had tweeted last spring, are “unlimited.”
It could have been practically unmistakably guessed earlier that Dmitriev constantly paints “Potemkin villages” of so-called business projects for his American interlocutors. But now it is an indisputable fact, announced by President of Ukraine Zelensky after the end of another round of trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi.
A major in the KGB of the USSR knows well how to work with different people to achieve what he wants from them. There are different methods for this. Some can be pressured in various ways.
With others, you can talk about what they like, speak in terms they understand. And promise that what they like, what they would want, will definitely happen, just do what we ask of you.
Dmitriev appeared to tell Vitkoff and Kushner about the trillions. Vitkoff, Kushner, and, of course, Trump understand what trillions mean. It’s the only thing that really interests them. For those who haven’t read the previous review, I highly recommend reading it. There is a translation of Senator Murphy’s speech about how Trump and Vitkoff make millions, pocketing money from the United Arab Emirates for the U.S. selling microchips for AI hardware systems there.
But there it’s about several hundred million. And here – trillions! Very tempting for political and diplomatic dealers who aren’t interested in international law, who are infinitely far from the moral values on which the Western world is purportedly based, which the 47th president claims to care about “preserving,” while in reality deeply despising these values – freedom, democracy, equal rights for all, and the rule of law.
The crux of the matter is to get Ukraine to agree to Russian terms, that is, to de facto capitulation, to get not only the US but also Europe to recognize the Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory as soon as possible, within the next few months. And then you start earning your trillions.
For Putin, in his political game with Trump, it’s a winning position. Because Putin has no intention of ending the war. And he understands that by promising trillions, he can keep Trump and his de facto collective Secretary of State Witkoff-Kushner on a short leash. Can’t make it happen in March? Fine, let it be later. In May. Can’t happen in May? No problem, let it be later. Trillions are waiting for you. And if it doesn’t happen in July? Well, it’s not our fault, but the trillions will come, sooner or later, rest assured. And so on.
In principle, this can continue until the next presidential election in the US. Because money, big money, very big money, is all that really interests the 47th president and his de facto collective Secretary of State represented by his friend and his son-in-law.
We’ll return to money a bit later. To how the 47th president converts his power into very big money, which he puts in his personal and family pocket.
▶ The owner of The Washington Post, billionaire Jeff Bezos, who bought the newspaper in 2013 to, as he said at the time, breathe new life into it, solve its financial problems, and ensure complete and real freedom of speech for its journalists, has decided to, so to speak, shut down one of the country’s most respectable newspapers. A radical reduction in the newspaper’s funding has been announced, with massive staff cuts – the dismissal of three hundred out of eight hundred journalists working at the newspaper, and the closure of the paper’s bureaus in many countries around the world.
“Democracy dies in darkness” is the slogan we see on the front page of The Washington Post. Its owner has decided, if not to plunge the paper into darkness, then to immerse it in thick twilight, where darkness is not far off. Because yes, democracy cannot exist without a free press, without freedom of speech. Jeff Bezos decided to buy favorable treatment from the 47th president for his business, and possibly secure lucrative government contracts, by spending $40 million on the production of the film “Melania” and another $35 million on its advertising and distribution (the film is being ignored by audiences nationwide – it plays in empty or half-empty theaters). Part of Bezos’ investment simply went into the Trump family’s pocket (more on this below).
Whether plunging The Washington Post into thick twilight was part of Bezos’ deal with the 47th president is certainly no secret.
▶ During the government shutdown, a partial halt of the federal government due to the lack of a budget in October-November last year, the aggrieved 47th president decided to punish “blue” Democratic states, attempting to blame Democrats for the shutdown. He began illegally freezing federal funding for various projects and programs approved by Congress in separate bills from the budget proposal. It was illegal because the president and his administration, the executive branch of government, do not have the right to alter the budget and appropriations allocated by Congress. The Constitution confirms this, as does a specific federal law. The budget, the allocation of taxpayer money for any federal programs, is the exclusive prerogative of Congress. The president and his administration are obliged to implement the budget, required to use any appropriations designated by Congress strictly for their intended purposes.
Among the funds illegally frozen by Trump were $16 billion for the construction of a new railroad tunnel under the Hudson River, which is intended to connect New York City on one side with the state of New Jersey on the other. The construction of the tunnel is in full swing. This is a crucial national project, involving the construction of a new tunnel and subsequent reconstruction of the old one, built 115 years ago. Over 400 long-distance and commuter trains travel through the old tunnel daily. These trains carry over 200,000 passengers daily. The old tunnel is in a state of disrepair, and train operations are often disrupted due to necessary repair work. This railway is of strategic importance to the country as it connects the Northeast with the rest of the country.
The 47th president decided to illegally halt funding for the construction, “punishing” the blue states of New York and New Jersey.
In response to an appeal from senators of both states, it was recently disclosed that Trump informed the Senate Democratic leader, Senator Chuck Schumer from New York, that he would agree to unfreeze funding if Penn Station in New York City were named after him. Additionally, Trump demanded that another condition for unfreezing the funding he had stopped unlawfully was the renaming of Washington Dulles International Airport to Trump Airport.
The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey filed a lawsuit in federal court in early January, demanding to declare the decision to halt funding for the tunnel construction illegal and to compel the administration to unfreeze funding.
On Friday, Federal Judge Janet Vargas in New York, who is reviewing the lawsuit, ruled the halting of funding for the tunnel construction illegal. This decision serves to support the states’ lawsuit while it is considered on its merits.
Judge Vargas indicated in her decision that the states are likely to succeed in their lawsuits, asserting that the Trump administration’s order to freeze funds was arbitrary and contradicted legal procedures for making budgetary changes (only Congress can make them; the White House can only request Congress to do so but cannot alter the budget by its own decisions).
This is a significant defeat for Trump. Regarding his obsession with naming everything after himself, there is nothing further to comment on.
▶ Now back to money and the 47th president’s love for it. On January 20, the first anniversary of Trump’s second presidential term, The New York Times published an editorial based on an investigation conducted by the newspaper’s journalists.
Here is the translation of the full text of the article:
«The New York Times, January 20, 2026, Editorial.
$1,408,500,000 (one billion four hundred eight million five hundred thousand dollars – E.N.)
A year ago, Donald Trump took an oath to serve the American people. Instead, he focused on using the presidency for his own enrichment.
President Trump has never been one to ponder what he could do for his country. During his second term, as in the first, he tests the limits of what his country can do for him.
He has directed his energy and creativity towards exploiting the presidency—determining how much money people, corporations, and other countries are willing to pour into his pockets in hopes of leveraging government power to their advantage.
An analysis by the editorial board, based on data from news organizations, shows that Mr. Trump used the presidency to earn at least $1.4 billion. We know this figure is understated since some of his income remains hidden from the public. And they (the earnings) continue to grow.
Since Donald Trump’s re-election, his family has earned at least $23 million by leveraging his name abroad.
A hotel in Oman. An office building in western India. A golf course on the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These are just some of the more than 20 foreign projects undertaken by the Trump Organization, often requiring cooperation with foreign governments. According to Reuters, these deals have brought the Trump family millions of dollars. And the administration sometimes showed favorable treatment towards these same governments. One example: the administration agreed to reduce threatened tariffs on Vietnam around a month after the Trump Organization began construction of a $1.5 billion golf complex near Hanoi. Vietnamese officials ignored their own laws to expedite the project.
The Trump family will receive $28 million from Amazon for a documentary about Melania Trump.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon paid significantly more for the rights to the film “Melania” than for a similar project, which ranks second in terms of funding, and much more than the company previously paid for other similar projects. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chairman and one of the richest people in the world, has many reasons to gain the administration’s favor, including antitrust regulation, Amazon’s defense contracts, and federal contracts for his space company.
Major tech and media companies paid Mr. Trump $90.5 million in settlements following his re-election.
The settlements were made with companies X, ABC News, Meta, YouTube, and Paramount. None of them were substantively justified. For example, Paramount agreed to pay the president $16 million for what he claimed was a deceptive edit of a 2024 Kamala Harris interview. The edit was a standard part of journalistic work. Three weeks later, the Federal Communications Commission approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance.
Qatar gifted Mr. Trump a $400 million plane, which he will use as Air Force One during his presidency and plans to use as his personal plane after leaving office.
Mr. Trump appeared to acknowledge that this gift would affect his stance towards Qatar. “We will defend this country,” he said in Doha shortly after Qatar offered him the plane. Trump stated that he plans to donate the plane to his presidential library after leaving office.
The Trump family earned at least $867 million from various cryptocurrencies.
According to Reuters, the sale of cryptocurrency became Mr. Trump’s most profitable income source. People seeking to influence federal policy, including foreigners, can buy his family’s cryptocurrency, effectively transferring money to the Trumps, and these transactions often remain secret. One such deal that became public: an investment firm backed by the United Arab Emirates announced plans last year to invest $2 billion in Trump’s company—two weeks before the president granted the country access to advanced microchips.
In total, due to his return to the presidency, Mr. Trump made a profit that is 16,822 times the average American family’s income.
Mr. Trump’s thirst for wealth is striking in its brazenness. Throughout the country’s history, presidents from both parties have tried to avoid even the appearance of profiting from public service. This president enjoys squeezing money from American corporations, boasts about gifts from foreign governments, and delights in the rapid growth of his own fortune.
When President Harry Truman left office in 1953, he didn’t even have a car. He and his wife returned to Missouri by train and lived for some time on his army pension. He refused any job he considered a commercialization of his public service, explaining, “I knew they were not interested in Harry Truman as a person, but rather in the former President of the United States.” Mr. Trump stated that after leaving office, he plans to take a $400 million Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar and display it in his presidential library.
The tally presented here focuses on Mr. Trump’s documented income. The figure of $1.4 billion is a minimum, not a full account. Probably, in the past year, Mr. Trump earned several hundred million dollars more from his cryptocurrency projects. The Trump family has confirmed this. When the Financial Times asked Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, about the estimated value of the family’s cryptocurrency income, he said they likely exceed the publication’s estimate.
Our analysis also does not account for other ways the president encouraged those seeking influence to make donations that politically benefited him, including for the planned White House renovation. During the government shutdown, Mr. Trump even used private donations to fund his political priorities. Other presidents did not behave this way.
Mr. Trump was already the richest person to hold the office of President of the United States. He began his second term with an extensive portfolio of real estate and stakes in a social media company. These enterprises benefited from his presidency. For example, his real estate company earns millions from deals to license Mr. Trump’s name for use in new projects overseas. However, even more striking are the immense profits the Trump family received from creating and selling cryptocurrencies, allowing Mr. Trump to receive money from those seeking his favor.
It is impossible to know exactly how often Mr. Trump makes official decisions partially or fully guided by the desire to get richer. And therein lies the problem. Corruption culture is pernicious because it is not just a deviation from principles of governance in the public interest; it is also a destruction of the democratic legitimacy of the state. It undermines the necessary trust that representatives of the people act in the interest of the people.
Aristotle, writing over 2000 years ago, clearly understood and warned that a government whose leaders work for their own enrichment may still call itself a government of the republic and formally observe all procedures, but when the aim of government shifts from public good to personal gain, its constitution becomes an empty shell. Such a government ceases to be a government for the people.
Greed gradually corrupts the work of the government, as officials work to accumulate personal wealth. Worse still, such a government corrupts the people living under its power. They learn from experience that they live in a society where laws are written by those who pay the most. They become less inclined to obey these laws and participate in democracy’s workings – voicing opinions, voting, paying taxes. The United States risks falling into this cynical spiral as Mr. Trump depletes institutions of power for personal gain.
Note. Methodology. These figures are based on publicly available information and analytical materials from news organizations. Estimates of income from licensing and cryptocurrency are taken from a Reuters analysis published in October; estimation in both categories is based on data for the first half of 2025. Income estimates from the meme coin $Melania are taken from the Financial Times. It’s unclear what portion of this money went to the Trumps and what part to their business partners. Revenue estimates from the documentary “Melania” are taken from the Wall Street Journal. Income estimates from legal settlements and the sale of the Qatari plane are taken from the New York Times. Some of the money from these settlements will go to Mr. Trump’s presidential library and other claimants in these cases.
The Trump family and their business partners dispute some of these estimates, but we consider these estimates more reliable than the Trumps’ statements.
There are 1077 days left until the end of the story titled “Fear: Trump in the White House” © (the title of Bob Woodward’s book published in 2018).
Thank you to everyone who read. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Take care of each other, help each other. Health to everyone.
Ultimately, what happens in the world depends on us. Whether we fight evil, do good, remain mere spectators, wait passively, and believe that someone somewhere will decide for us, or we fight evil and do everything possible to make Good prevail.
We must not allow evil to win. The victory of evil would mean the end of the world in which we live. We cannot allow this. Especially now.
Ukrainian Friends, I embrace and love you all. Please take care of each other.
Ukraine is and will always be.
And evil will be defeated and punished. And this is certain.
