Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump, who is constitutionally prohibited from running for president again, has raised over $400 million through his super PAC, MAGA Inc. Trump has made it clear that he has complete authority over the funds, although such direct control is prohibited by law. “This is money from MAGA Inc. This is my money that I control,” Trump said. “I can spend it for what I want to spend it for.”
The amount raised by Trump’s super PAC is unprecedented. It is a larger war chest than any entity has ever had to spend in a midterm election. Super PACs supporting former President Joe Biden, for example, raised $57 million in the year after his election. (Biden was also eligible to run again in 2024.)
So how is Trump raising so much money?
Over the last 20 months, Trump’s super PAC has repeatedly received large donations from corporations or individuals that are seeking — or have recently received — favorable treatment from the Trump administration.
In MAGA Inc.’s latest September filing, it reported a $1 million donation from Phillip Sarofim that it received on August 21. Sarofim is the founder and CEO of Trousdale Ventures, a venture capital firm. (Sarofim previously donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee, according to the New York Times.)
Sarofim’s Trousdale Ventures is a major investor in CesiumAstro, which makes communications systems for satellites. Trousdale Ventures has led multiple rounds of financing for the company. CesiumAstro is listed under Sarofim’s “Notable Deals” on his company bio.
In January, CesiumAstro “announced it secured a historic $200 million financing package from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM),” which is part of the Trump administration. The package included a “$185 million EXIM-authorized debt facility” and a “$15 million revolving credit facility from J.P. Morgan.” In May, EXIM named CesiumAstro as the “Make More in America (MMIA) Deal of the Year.”
On September 9, shortly after Sarofim’s donation to MAGA Inc., CesiumAstro’s loan from EXIM was formally increased to $280 million, “represent[ing] the Bank’s largest loan approval in the MMIA program to date.”
Correlation, of course, does not equal causation. But it is not an isolated incident. It is a pattern.
Trump administration backs Crypto.com, which has donated $35 million to MAGA Inc., in high-stakes litigation
Earlier this year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) intervened on behalf of Crypto.com in a high-stakes lawsuit over whether Crypto.com and other prediction markets could operate without complying with state gambling laws. This came just 25 days after MAGA Inc. received a $5 million donation from Crypto.com’s parent company. In April, the CFTC filed unprecedented lawsuits against several states to block their efforts to rein in prediction markets. To date, Crypto.com has donated $35 million to MAGA Inc., making the company MAGA Inc.’s single largest donor.
After $5 million MAGA Inc. donation, Trump blocked rule that would have prevented a medical supply company from charging Medicare
In February 2025, Extremity Care, a company that sells extremely expensive “skin substitute” bandages, donated $5 million to MAGA Inc. Six days later, Trump made a post criticizing a pending Biden-era rule that would have blocked Medicare from covering Extremity Care’s products. Then in April 2025, the Trump administration delayed the rule so it would not take effect until January 2026. This allowed Extremity Care to continue charging Medicare up to thousands of dollars per square inch for its products. The rule has since been formally withdrawn.
Trump administration takes action sought by a small Native American tribe that donated $2 million to MAGA Inc.
As Trump retook office, a small Native American tribe, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, gave Trump’s inauguration fund $1 million. For years, the Yocha Dehe had been trying to stop another tribe from building a casino close to its own. Soon after this donation, the Department of the Interior (DOI) sent a letter rescinding a previous determination that the land for the competing casino was eligible for gaming. The other tribe sued and a judge reinstated the eligibility temporarily, but still allowed DOI to reconsider its determination. During this reconsideration process, the Yocha Dehe donated $2 million to MAGA Inc.
Days after receiving $5 million MAGA Inc. donation from tobacco company, Trump administration green lights fruit-flavored vapes
In April, two days after Reynolds American donated $5 million to MAGA Inc., Trump met with Reynolds executives at one of his golf courses. At the meeting, the executives complained about a ban on selling fruit-flavored vapes due to their appeal to children. Before the meeting was over, Trump had called the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and within a week, Reynolds and other tobacco companies were allowed to sell fruit-flavored vapes. (The FDA commissioner reportedly resigned in protest.)
After pharmaceutical company sends MAGA Inc. $1 million, FDA goes quiet
On May 26, the FDA sent a letter to QOL Medical, a pharmaceutical company, alleging that the company had misled providers by trying to push one of its very expensive products as a treatment for symptoms that it had not been proven to help. QOL had 15 days to respond to the letter, which could have put QOL products at risk of being excluded from federal health care programs. Within that 15-day window, QOL’s CEO sent a $1 million check to MAGA Inc. By July, the FDA had not acted on its letter.
As TikTok co-owner donated $16 million to MAGA Inc., Trump repeatedly delayed ban
In the first half of 2025, billionaire Jeff Yass, co-founder of the trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG), donated $16 million to MAGA Inc. During the same time period, Trump repeatedly postponed a domestic ban on TikTok, which was required by law. SIG owns around 15% of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and Yass personally owns 7%.
After nursing home industry donates $4.8 million to MAGA Inc., Trump administration abandons rule requiring increased staffing levels
Last year, the nursing home industry was trying to convince the Trump administration to permanently block a Biden-era rule that required increased staffing levels. During August and September 2025, the industry had donated a total of $4.8 million to MAGA Inc. Less than a month after industry executives had lunch with Trump to press their case, the Trump administration stopped defending the rule in court.
Trump delays toll bridge opening after MAGA Inc. received $1 million from owner of competing roadway
In January 2026, Matthew Moroun, whose family operates the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, made a $1 million donation to MAGA Inc. A few weeks later, Moroun met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss a competing bridge that was about to open. Within hours of that meeting, Trump posted on social media that he would “not allow” the new bridge to proceed and in June, the opening of the bridge was delayed.
After Trump administration drops an enforcement action against their company, crypto executives donate over $10 million to MAGA Inc.
In June, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, founders of the crypto exchange Gemini, donated over $10 million in bitcoin to MAGA Inc. This came less than a month after the Trump administration dismissed an enforcement action brought by the Biden administration against Gemini.
Private prison operator donated $1.4 million to MAGA Inc. as it received contracts worth $165 million annually
In July, GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private prison operators, announced it had secured a five-year contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to run a detention center in Colorado for $85 million a year. Three days later, GEO Group donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. Two weeks after that, GEO Group announced another $80 million annual contract with ICE and then donated an additional $413,000 to MAGA Inc. two days later.
Two criminals were pardoned by Trump shortly after their relatives donated millions to MAGA Inc.
In at least two cases, Trump has pardoned relatives of major donors to MAGA Inc. In April 2025, he pardoned Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to tax crimes, just three weeks after his mother, Elizabeth Fago, attended a $1 million per-person fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago where attendees were promised face-time with Trump. He pardoned Julio Herrera Velutini, a banker indicted on bribery charges who had pled guilty to making an illegal political contribution, in January after Herrera’s daughter donated $3.5 million to MAGA Inc.
Yeah, this isn't exactly grassroots organizing lining MAGA Inc.'s coffers. It's individuals and entities with money and influence speaking the transactional language Trump knows. It's also precisely why we need to get money out of politics, though that seems like a herculean task at this point.
Trump has always been open about his transactional, corrupt nature.
I fear the open, rampant corruption will not go back under cover once he's gone.
For 11 years now, he has set the tone of public conversation. Half a generation knows no differently.