For GOP, Trump’s self-enrichment is a taboo topic — and a vulnerability

Tom Moran is the author of the Substack Jersey Lowdown and the former editorial page editor of the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.

Donald Trump declared income of $2.2 billion in the first year of his second term, a scale of self-enrichment never seen in American history, most of it coming from industries that are regulated by his own government. His family and friends are cashing in as well.

And voters are disgusted by it. A recent Associated Press poll found that 59% believe Trump is acting illegally (41%) or unethically (18%). Corruption and ethics are now the fourth most important issue to voters in this election, ahead of healthcare and abortion, according to a recent Washington Post poll.

So, you might think that Republicans in swing districts, including four in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey, would find the nerve to say out loud that this is just plain wrong.

But no. Even Republicans with the moxie to oppose Trump on other issues — the Iran war, the tariffs, the Epstein files — will not go near this one. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who has made a political brand of his independence from Trump, won’t challenge him on this. I asked, twice.

The explanation, said Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, is that Republicans are accomplices. They’ve watched Trump’s naked profiteering, which he makes little effort to hide, without lifting a finger to stop him. The $2.2 billion a year, he noted, works out to just over $1 million an hour at 40 hours a week.

“They can’t talk about this machine of self-enrichment and corruption that is the Trump White House because they are profoundly implicated in it,” he said. “Republicans continue to act like members of a cult, sleeping on the basement floor and bowing to their leader.”

Raskin, who will be chair of the Judiciary Committee if Democrats win a majority, said ending the war in Iran will be the most urgent priority, but that Democrats will investigate Trump’s wealth, emphasizing that corruption comes with a price for average Americans. “What is corruption if not plundering the public?” he asked.

Democrats will even consider a third impeachment, he said, though winning conviction in the Senate remains unlikely. “It’s not a taboo, but it’s not a fetish,” he said.

Democrats, of course, would have to win a majority first. And corruption, more and more, is becoming central to their pitch. The New Yorker reported a few weeks ago that Democrats had spent more than $300 million in ads portraying Trump’s self-enrichment as a financial burden on average Americans.

For Republican candidates in swing districts, the political trap is inescapable, said Matt Hale, a politics professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. He is closely following the state’s one swing district, where Republican Tom Kean Jr. is fighting for his life against a strong Democratic challenge from Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter test pilot.

Why don’t candidates like Kean make a peep, given that most voters are appalled? Because they can’t risk losing the support of Trump’s hardcore supporters.

“It’s this ever-dwindling 30% or so who think that Trump walks on water,” Hale said. “They need them. So, they don’t say anything. They don’t stand up.”

I wonder if Republicans will stick with Trump if Democrats win in November, if they see that the party is over, that the dwindling 30% is not enough. Fitzpatrick won’t point the finger at Trump personally, but he has proposed legislation to ban stock trading by federal officials, and unlike the limited version passed by the House, his ban includes the president. So there is a pulse, at least.

“What is corruption if not plundering the public?”

One thing is certain: If Democrats take the House, and even if they fall short in the Senate, they will be put on the spot about investigations to come. The trick for Democrats will be to show that they are not absorbed with a pointless partisan vendetta, but are fighting for reforms that will produce tangible results. That’s why Raskin puts stopping the Iran war at the top of the list, along with tariffs.

“We have to use our legislative power to reverse the trade war on Canada and the tariff scams, where Trump has arbitrarily and capriciously imposed tariffs on large parts of the world, but then carves out exemptions for corporations and businesses that offer tribute to him and his family,” he said.

Can Democrats thread that needle? Can they hold Trump fully accountable for all his horrid behavior, while convincing Americans that their efforts will yield tangible results for them?

That may be the key story heading into the 2028 presidential election. Here’s hoping they don’t blow it.