How US Diplomacy Became a Family Business

The business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter were part of a major yet carefully concealed scandal in American diplomacy. The two-pronged scandal began three months after the Maidan, when Hunter – who had never held what critics would regard as a real job – joined the board of directors of Burisma, a major Ukrainian energy company. It continued two years later, when his father, serving as Obama’s vice president, arranged for the dismissal of Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma.

During Biden’s presidency, anyone who pointed to these connections was quickly branded a conspiracy theorist by US authorities and the mainstream media. Trump's return to power changed the political climate in Washington. The business interests of America's ruling families have now reached levels the Bidens could scarcely have imagined – yet their business dealings are now discussed openly.

Business and Geopolitics

Jared Kushner, the husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, deserves a chapter of his own. Much has been written about his projects, but they have tended to generate controversy rather than profit. Trump appointed him to the executive committee of the Peace Council, which is intended to raise billions of dollars to transform Gaza into a luxury resort. Kushner had promoted the idea even before Trump’s return to the White House. It later became official US policy.

In Gaza, however, the ceasefire exists largely on paper, and investment has yet to materialize. Around the time Kushner began promoting luxury hotels there, he also unveiled plans for another resort, this time in a protected nature reserve on the Albanian island of Sazan.

Friendships Tied to Business

Donald Trump Jr, by contrast, has fared considerably better. Last year alone, his estimated net worth reportedly increased from $50m to $300m.

Even that appears to be only the tip of the iceberg. It does not include, for example, his stake in the until recently little-known oil company America First Refining. The company attracted widespread attention a few months ago after receiving a nine-figure investment from the Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, which is controlled by one of India’s wealthiest families.

The Ambani family has long maintained friendly ties with the Trump family. Those relations became strained last year when Trump pushed India to halt purchases of Russian oil, from which the Ambanis had profited significantly. At the same time, they suffered substantial losses because of tariffs imposed by Trump. Toward the end of the year, Donald Trump Jr traveled to India in an effort to smooth relations.

Photos from a night out with the young Ambani, widely publicized at the time, suggested the mission had succeeded. Tangible results followed early this year. The Ambanis invested in a company in which Trump Jr holds a stake; the Trump administration reduced tariffs on Indian goods; Reliance secured a license to import Venezuelan oil and the company was also among the first to receive an exemption allowing it to continue trading in Russian oil when global shortages loomed after the war in Iran began.

Family Ties

Donald Trump Jr also expects to make a lot of money from Kazakhstan. When President Trump announced last fall that he had reached an agreement with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on mining and supplying tungsten, it appeared to be another successful step in securing rare materials for the US. Even Washington's allocation of more than $1.5bn to the project raised few questions. At the time, however, it was not publicly known that a 20% stake in the project had been secured by Dominari Securities, a company in which Donald Trump Jr and his brother Eric both hold interests.

The sons of Howard Lutnick, Trump’s secretary of commerce and the negotiator of the deal, also stand to benefit. Their investment bank, Cantor Fitzgerald, helped arrange financing for one of the investors. The younger Lutnick brothers are also involved in the Indian investment, where they serve as financial advisors to America First Refining.

The New York Times has identified 14 companies linked to the Trump or Lutnick families that are involved in US raw materials deals worth about $9bn in total. Let us hope that, in the future, The New York Times applies the same investigative zeal to political figures aligned with its own political camp. Its silence over the Hunter Biden affair was embarrassing.

The True Face of the System

Trump’s shamelessness serves one useful purpose: it exposes the true nature of the system. So-called liberal democracy rests on a close connection between business and politics, in other words, between private interests and the public interest. That relationship is so close that the public interest often prevails only when it coincides with powerful private interests.

Those who are can convince influential sponsors that they understand their interests are the ones most likely to reach the highest political offices. The same dynamic extends beyond elected politicians. Senior officials, diplomats, intelligence officers, police officers and military officers all know that, if they remain attentive to these interests, lucrative advisory and lobbying roles may await them after retirement.

Many people instinctively recognized what the traditional democratic facade conceals. Trump’s supporters dispense with any such pretense. Their nepotism and clientelism hold up a mirror to Western democracy as a whole.