Corruption has always been a defining trait of Donald Trump’s public life, but in his second presidency it has evolved into the central operating logic of his administration. What once appeared as opportunistic graft has transformed into a full-scale system of personalized power, transactional policymaking, and institutional sabotage that rivals the kleptocratic politics of the post-Soviet space. The scale and brazenness of this corruption marks an unprecedented chapter in American history, one in which self-enrichment is inseparable from an explicit effort to dismantle the rule-bound architecture of the United States government.

To understand the significance of Trump’s corruption, one must first recognize the purpose it serves. His financial schemes, nepotistic networks, and improvised power centers are not just about enriching himself or his family-although they certainly succeed at that. Rather, they are tools to undermine what he calls “the system,” a loose term for the professional bureaucracy, legal norms, and institutional checks that have long guided American governance. In dismantling these guardrails, Trump is adopting a model familiar to anyone who has studied post-Soviet kleptocracy: rule through personalized loyalty, informality, and a disdain for legality.

This trajectory was already visible during Trump’s first term. Scholars such as Janine R. Wedel noted that Trump and his circle saw no contradiction in using state authority for personal gain. Nepotism flourished, with senior White House positions handed to family members and unqualified loyalists. Pardons were treated as political favors. Government contractors with personal ties to the president prospered. But compared to the second Trump administration, that early period now looks almost quaint.

Today, Trump and his appointees are reconstructing the federal government in ways that make corruption not only easier, but........

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