Trump’s Crypto Bank: When Presidential Power Becomes Family Business

Ultimize. Donald Trump's family is expanding further into banking. Wow, there's a sentence that warms the heart. Finally, a bank where the hidden fee is foreign policy. The Wall Street Journal reports that UAE's national security adviser and co-investors back an entity owning 49% of a holding company behind the family's planned crypto bank. A foreign security officer investing alongside the president's family. Okay, I'm a personal development guy. Even I think that's too much networking. The company says Korea regulators reviewed its application. Fine. My concern is the conflict. Foreign power, presidential family, private profit. That's not a vision board. That's a seating chart for a congressional investigation. Look, Donald, I teach people to eliminate unnecessary steps, be more productive. I get it. But why all the crypto plumbing? You've already got the nuclear codes. Why are you still working on a side hustle? Here's my view of what's really going to happen, and it hasn't been reported yet with Trump, but he's basically going to tell countries, you give me a large pile of money and I don't nuke you into oblivion. Crude, yeah. Corrupt, yeah. Evil, yeah. But hey, it would be wildly, wildly profitable. Here's how it would work. He could tweet this out on Truth Social. Britain, $200 billion into my personal account, otherwise nuclear annihilation. Or save 10% with annual billing. France gets an invoice. Canada gets a payment reminder. Switzerland gets asked if it validates parking for submarines. I tell clients, know your customer's deepest need. Apparently it's continuing to exist if you're a country. Imagine the subscription tiers. There'd be gold, platinum, and still a country. Cancel anytime, there won't be anybody left to complain. And the checkout screen. Would you like to leave your president a tip? 20%? 25%? Greenland? Your survival is important to us. Please remain on the line. This is what alarms me about treating public power as a family business. Eventually, every public service looks like an unmonetized threat. I teach abundance thinking, but there's a difference between I deserve more and nice hemisphere you got there. Donald, try this affirmation: I am enough. Not, I'm entitled to enough of your gross domestic product. Meanwhile, another Social Security cliff story. This warning has been running so long, the warning itself qualifies for benefits. The retirement trust fund is projected to exhaust its reserves in late 2032. Continuing income would cover about 78% of scheduled benefits unless— Congress acts. Now the gap is real. The BS is treating benefit cuts like an asteroid. We elected people who can change the law. Admittedly, some appear to be waiting for instructions from the asteroid. Social Security isn't your personal investment account. When revenues were flush, nobody sent Grandma a triple payment and said, great quarter, buy a jet ski. The reserves are real Treasury securities. But the financing rules are political choices, not commandments Moses brought down on a spreadsheet. Congress could authorize other funding. It wouldn't be automatic or free, but we must cut your check skips a lot of choices. My bet: politicians find money before they face organized retirees. Old people vote. We have time. We have reading glasses and unresolved customer service complaints. Threaten our checks and we'll be at your office at 6 in the morning. After all, we've already been awake for 3 hours. Here's one choice: remove the payroll tax ceiling. In 2026, employees pay 6.2% on wages up to $184,000. Employers match it. Above that ceiling, the Social Security rate on additional wages is zero. Apparently, money gets exhausted climbing that high and needs a tax break. A nurse earning $184,000 and an executive earning $10 million in wages each pay $11,439 in employee Social Security tax. One takes your blood pressure, The other raises it. Now, that's wages, not stock wealth. Saying Elon is worth billions doesn't tell us his payroll tax. Remove the cap, keep the combined 12.4% rate, and Social Security's 2025 model implies roughly $267 billion in additional program income for 2026. Now, that version gives no extra benefits on the newly taxed wages and closes about 2/3 of the projected long-term shortfall. Not all of it, but pretty close. I checked. Even my optimism has to show its work. Flat tax enthusiasts, where are you guys? Here it is. This is what you want. You're always telling me same rate, every covered dollar. Here's your chance. Apparently, a flat tax is wonderful until rich people have to stand on the flat part. Vox reports that bars and parties are restricting phones. Some lock them in pouches. Others cover the cameras so people can actually socialize. We've invented a revolutionary social network: people nearby. I love this. The next luxury won't be a Gucci handbag. It'll be 2 hours without knowing what anybody thinks about your handbag. Bring out a $200 lobster roll. I'll pay for a waiter who says nobody here can send you a podcast, including mine, especially mine. Maybe I'm trying to improve your life by talking continuously into the device, ruining it. I'm both the wellness coach and the notification. Imagine meeting somebody without checking their profile. You'd have to discover their personality through Conversation like an animal. You could dance badly without becoming a reaction GIF. At my age, every dance already looks like a medical emergency. And this isn't just for singles or gay dance parties. Couples need it. Friends need it. Married people can look across the table and say, hey, you're still here. My next personal development seminar: no phones, no slides, No motivational speech, just silence. Naturally, the VIP package costs extra. I'll stay silent longer. The New York Times reports that federal election monitors in Wyoming asked to interview voters and inspect voting machines. Local officials refused. Republican Governor Mark Gordon objected to their conduct. DOJ says it's protecting lawful votes. Wyoming? Somebody selected the wrong demographic in this intimidation software. I would have suspected, uh, something— a place a little more melanin, for example, say Chicago. This feels like a Broadway show trying out in Cleveland before opening in New York. Coming soon, Stop the Steal, now with federal funding. The monitors visited 6 polling places, according to Gordon. Now, that's not a landslide, that's a focus group. To be clear, election monitoring itself is normal. The reported conduct and the governor's reaction is the story. My fear is that this becomes a rehearsal for interference. The report doesn't prove that, but I'm not putting everyone will respect the results on my vision board. I'm optimistic. I also lock my front door. Democrats who think a favorable poll guarantees control of Congress need less manifestation and more preparation. I want them aiming for a landslide with lawyers defending the count. 10 points would be a good start, not a magic fraud-proof threshold. Democracy shouldn't require winning by the margin of a Harlem Globetrotters game, but that may be what it takes in 2026. Here's my nightmare. Trump tries branding the opposition, i.e., the Democrats, as terrorists, a terrorist organization, then demands that they be banned from elections. That's a warning about possible abuse, not a power I'm saying he lawfully possesses, but when has that ever stopped him before? And I don't want to gamble everything on a Supreme Court response of Of course, good sir. Would you like your Constitution shredded or pulped? Vote. Protect the camp. Optimism is useful. It's not an election observer. Finally, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh faces persistent inflation and pressure over interest rates. Rates are up. Borrowing gets more painful. Too little restraint. inflation may stay high. He's between a rock and a mortgage payment. The Times describes officials debating rate increases while markets want clarity about his approach. Well, I teach public speaking. If your audience needs an interest rate decoder ring, your message needs work. My complaint about partisan economics for someone like Walsh— when there's a Democrat around, suddenly inflation is a moral collapse. Debt, a moral collapse. Under a Republican, it's a challenging season of personal growth. Try that at the supermarket. These eggs aren't expensive; they're becoming their best sells. Walsh can't solve this with the kind of spin that works on Fox. Bond buyers want compensation for risk, not a reassuring Chiron. You can tell a television audience everything is wonderful. A lender replies, wonderful, that'll be another percentage point. Kevin, here's your affirmation: I can communicate clearly, face trade-offs, and disappoint powerful people. You know who that might be. The last one is the advanced course. And if all else fails, try a phone-free event. You'll still have inflation, but for 2 beautiful hours, you won't have to hear me or anyone else explain it. I'm TJ Walker. Stay hopeful and check the invoice. Ultimize.