Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has made one thing painfully clear: if you’re not paying, you’re not playing. The presidency, once considered a position of national service, is now a fully operational shake down scheme.
Trump doesn’t govern. He negotiates. Or more accurately, he extorts. It’s not subtle, either. When he first met German Chancellor Angela Merkel early in his presidency, Trump didn’t bother with diplomacy. Instead, he told her flat-out, “Angela, you owe me $1 trillion.” Germany never paid a dime. But that moment was less about Germany and more about setting the tone: this is what leadership looks like under Donald Trump — pay up or get punished.
And since regaining the White House, he’s taken that same streetwise swagger and institutionalized it. What used to be the Oval Office is now the “pay-to-play” room.
The Billion-Dollar Dinner
Before he was even re-elected, Trump started laying the groundwork. In April 2024, at a dinner in Mar-a-Lago with roughly 20 top oil executives, he laid it out. Raise $1 billion for his campaign, and in return, he’d deliver — deregulation, tax breaks, policy favors. “Day One,” he promised. The message was clear: invest in Trump, and Trump will invest in you.
This wasn’t a campaign pitch. It was a sales call — and they were the customers.
Buying Favor at the Bar
Once back in power, Trump didn’t waste time expanding his racket. One of his first moves? Targeting a respected legal institution: Paul, Weiss. He sat down with their managing partner and effectively forced the firm into offering $40 million a year in pro bono work aligned with his administration’s goals. In return, he reversed an executive order that had barred the firm from federal contracts and stripped their employees of security clearances.
It worked so well that eight other white-shoe firms followed suit, coughing up over $1 billion in free legal work to stay on the administration’s good side. It was the legal world’s version of protection money.
Media Muzzled with a Lawsuit
Trump then turned his sights on the press. His tactic? Sue them — and settle big. ABC and CBS both shelled out $15 million and $16 million respectively after airing interviews he didn’t like. Meta and X followed with multimillion-dollar settlements.
The New York Times fought back and got his suit tossed, but The Wall Street Journal’s is still pending. The result? A media landscape more cautious, more compliant, and far less likely to take the risk of speaking truth to power.
Universities Under Siege
Next came the universities. Trump slashed federal research funding for major institutions until they agreed to adopt policies that aligned with his administration’s political views. Columbia, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania gave in, handing over massive eight- to nine-figure “fines.” Harvard resisted — and got hit with a wave of cancelled scientific research grants.
This isn’t policy. It’s a smash-and-grab.
The Corporate Shake
Even his corporate backers weren’t safe. Trump approved Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel — but only after demanding a “Golden Share,” giving his administration veto authority over company decisions.
Intel got federal subsidies — and in exchange, Trump’s administration took a 10 percent equity stake, with the option for more. Chipmakers Nvidia and AMD got the green light to sell to China, but only by agreeing to hand over 15 percent of those sales to the government.
This isn’t just interference. It’s a hostile takeover — one industry at a time.
And then there are the allies. The EU, Japan, South Korea — all of them were threatened with crushing 25 percent tariffs on their exports to the U.S. Trump’s “compromise”? A still-punitive 15 percent tariff that jacked up prices for American consumers.
But tariffs were just the stick. The carrot? They could stay in Trump’s good graces by cutting deals. South Korea pledged $350 billion in U.S. investments. Japan, $550 billion. European firms chipped in $600 billion — plus an additional $750 billion in gas and energy purchases.
But here’s the catch: Trump gets to decide where that money goes. In some cases, like with Japan, the U.S. will pocket up to 90 percent of the profits. Who benefits from that kind of deal? Not the allies. And not the average American.
One by One, They Fold
The game is the same no matter who’s on the other side: threaten, sue, squeeze, then settle. And once one firm, company, or country caves, the rest follow. “A billion here, a few hundred billion there,” and suddenly Trump has built a shadow empire — not with policy, but with pressure tactics.
In the short term, it works. People pay to avoid the fight. But this strategy is brittle.
Sooner or later, everyone he’s strong-armed — from global firms to foreign governments to America’s own institutions — will start doing the math. They’ll realize they don’t have to play his game. They have other partners, other markets, other choices.
The Breaking Point
So far, Trump has succeeded by isolating his targets. One firm at a time. One country at a time. But his Achilles’ heel is unity. If even a fraction of them push back in concert — media, universities, corporations, and allies — the leverage evaporates. The shake down stops.
Because a shakedown only works when everyone stays quiet and scared. Once people realize they’re not alone, the entire operation crumbles.
And maybe then, this “Shakedown Presidency” will finally meet its end. Not with a bang, but with a unified: “No.”
