United States President Donald Trump Is Very Greedy -By Joe Dauda

By the 20th of this month (November 2025) Donald Trump would have spent 10 months in his second term as President of the United States of America. His first term was from the 20th of January 2017 to the 20th of January 2021. Between the end of his first term and the 20th of January this year when his second term began, it was Joe Biden, my namesake, that was in power. I have been watching Trump closely and it is my honest opinion that he is not only greedy, but very greedy.

First of all, it must be stated that Trump is not a poor man and has been a dollar billionaire for many years—almost four decades now. In fact he is the richest American to ever be president. Before he got into the White House, Trump was worth nothing less than $5 billion (for my Nigerian readers, that amount is more than N7.5 Trillion) and his own assessment of his personal wealth was around $10 billion. No matter how you look at it, Trump entered the presidency as a very rich man—many times richer than both Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, who were considered quite wealthy when they got into the White House.

The funny thing about Trump and his wealth is that he lost some of it while he was president. Before his first term (i.e., around 2016) he was ranked number 156 on the Forbes list of the 400 richest American billionaires. But after his first term, Trump had lost so much of his wealth he fell off that list entirely. He could no longer be a part of the Forbes List of 400 Richest American Billionaires. To get on that list, a person needed to be worth well over $2.5 billion. Unfortunately, Donald Trump’s net worth was just around $2.5 billion in 2021. So he fell short of that list after four years as president. That may seem quite odd to citizens of certain countries but that was the reality in the case of Donald J. Trump. And it is not a secret.

Trump is so rich he refused to collect his salary as president when he first got into the White House in 2017. However, he could not actually refuse to collect his salary because of a certain clause in Article II and Section 1 of the United States Constitution which requires that the President of America receives compensation while in office. So although Trump would have preferred not to collect his salary, he was forced by American law to do so. And he did. But since the constitution permitted him to donate his salary, that was the exact thing he did. Until 2001 during the presidency of George W. Bush, the annual salary of American presidents (apart from some allowances that covered certain expenses) was $200k. In that year, it doubled and became $400k. Up till this moment, that figure has not changed. So what Trump did was to collect this $400k (which is spread as quarterly payments of $100k for each quarter) and donate it to various government agencies and causes. To carry the public along in this matter, the White House regularly publicized where these donations went—often with photo ops or press releases. Some of the agencies that benefited from Trump’s donations were the National Park Service, the Department of Education (for STEM programmes), the Department of Health and Human Services (to combat the opioid crisis), the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States.

Perhaps to assure his critics of the authenticity of his donations, Trump ensured that each donation was documented by the Treasury Department and sometimes even publicly confirmed by the receiving agencies. Moreover, independent fact-checkers such as PolitiFact and FactCheck.org, verified that Trump did in fact donate his net presidential salary throughout his first term. This tradition has continued in his second term. The summary is that the man worked for four years for free during his first term and is still working for free since January 20th when he began his second term.

But that was not all. Many people do not realize a funny thing that goes on in the White House. It is all in the name of protecting public funds and ensuring accountability. And I must add that it sounds unbelievable to citizens of certain countries; but it is true.

When the US President entertains private guests at the White House (friends, family, or other non-official visitors) he pays for the costs of food, beverages (including alcohol), and other expenses that aren’t part of official government business. Hello Nigerian readers. Can you imagine that? The only expenses for entertainment paid for with government funds is when the issue is official. For example, state dinners, receptions for members of Congress, or diplomatic events. These are all paid for from the official entertainment budget of the White House, administered through the State Department and the Executive Residence. This rule has been in place for a long time to ensure that taxpayer funds are not used for the President’s personal hospitality. And Donald Trump (who has been serving without salary) complied with this rule all through his first term and has been complying with it, to the best of my knowledge. Is this part of the reason for Trump’s loss of net worth during his first term? I know not and I know that I know not. But perhaps it was.

This issue of US Presidents paying for private entertainment in the White House is so serious that when Ronald Reagan was president, he invited friends and acquaintances to the White House and they were entertained. Then he received an itemized bill from the chief usher of the White House for food and drinks and was required to pay. The man was surprised. But he had no option. He had to pay. My guess is that, after that rude awakening, he must have consciously or unconsciously begun to adjust his invitations and private entertainment at the White House to align with his ability to pay. So next time you see Trump or any American president hosting anyone in the White House, just understand that everything that is served or any form of entertainment enjoyed is paid for by them. That is how strict the Americans are and that is how badly they want to protect their commonwealth from possible abuse.

So what is Donald Trump really greedy about, in view of all this?

There are at least two things. And one of them is money. Yes, money. Dollars. Or, as some people call it, Benjamins.

In just nine months, Donald John Trump has forced just a handful of countries around the world to pay the United States of America a sum that is close to $100 billion in tariffs. Again, my Nigerian readers must realize that this amount is at least N150 Trillion. Extra cash because of one man’s policy and guts to follow it through. That is to say, except for Trump’s policy of reciprocal tariffs (or whatever you may want to call it) the United States would have made approximately $100 billion less than what the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has collected since the 20th of January, 2025. This means Trump’s so-called stubbornness has fetched America about $10 billion every month since the beginning of his second term. Interestingly, in spite of these tariffs (which some so-called experts and rabid critics of Trump claimed would discourage investments into the United States and even discourage domestic investment) Donald Trump has, since January 20th this year, secured investment pledges from several countries (the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, etc.) totalling a staggering $5 Trillion. This is one of the most perfect examples of a win-win situation where win-win means a good policy that was supposed to result in some losses resulted in considerable gains instead. The United States under Donald Trump is making a lot of money through new tariffs and, instead of losing investments as a result of this—as some experts claimed—it is actually attracting much more investments. There is no doubt that Donald Trump is very greedy for money. He wants the United States to make as much money as possible and he seems to be in a hurry to achieve this. And if the past nine months are any indication, one can safely project that, by the end of his second term, the United States would have become a whole lot richer than it already is. And a whole lot less indebted than it currently is.

The second thing Donald Trump is greedy about (if you want to consider the fact that action speaks louder than words) is peace. The man is greedy for peace. World peace. Peace in the Middle East; peace between Europe and Russia; peace between virtually any warring nations he is made aware of. And he does not mind making money after making peace. Remember that he is a businessman. Here are the facts, just in case you never knew.

Before he was sworn into office on the 20th of January this year, Donald Trump was publicly promising to end the Russia-Ukraine war. In fact he started making this promise even before he won the election in early November of last year. According to him, as soon as he is declared winner, he will pull Putin and Zelensky together and forge a peace accord that will end the war that had lasted for two years already and was putting Europe and the entire world within millimetres of another world war. Why? Because Russia considered the Ukraine issue as an attempt by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to reignite the cold war and further contain Russia’s influence around Europe and around the globe. Thus, Russia was ready to go to war with NATO over Ukraine. Since NATO included the United States and any war between such dangerously armed countries could quickly spiral into nuclear war, many people were anxious since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

Trump was unable to end the war after he was declared winner in November. And he has been unable to end the war for the past nine months even as incumbent President of the United States. Many people are even willing to mock Trump on this score. But they miss the point. They miss the fact that Trump is so desirous of peace he was willing to publicly state his desire to end the Russia-Ukraine war even before his swearing-in. If you fail to see his desire, you see failure; if you consider his desire, you see a man desperate for peace. Greedy for peace. So greedy he was willing to sit down with an enemy nation (Russia) and another nation that might be described as friendly (Ukraine) just to achieve peace. His willingness to do this is what matters. The fact that Putin and Ukraine have been unwilling to make the concessions necessary for ending the war is not Donald Trump’s fault. He has denied Ukraine the use of some American weapons just to strong-arm Ukraine into agreeing to end the war but Ukraine has been influenced by the Europeans (in my view) to always come up with one impediment after the other. You can force a horse to the river, they say, but you cannot force it to drink water. Trump even held a summit with Putin in Alaska just to see how he could negotiate a solution. He failed. And I am saying his failure does not take anything away from his desire. What he wants is peace and the reason is not hard to see. Trump has often complained bitterly about the loss of lives. He seems more concerned about the deaths of both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers than any other world leader—including the leaders of the two countries in question. Trump has called the war needless and stated that, if he were in the White House, there is no way Putin would have invaded Ukraine. Note that it is Russians and Ukrainians that are being killed; yet Trump is the only world leader that has invested his time, energy, and political capital to try to end the war. I would not want to go into the details but the suicidal mind-set of the leaders of Europe is the reason why Trump has not been able to bring peace between Ukraine and Russia. That is a story for another day.

Even during his first term in office, Trump showed the type of man he was. At that time, North Korea was flexing muscles and testing nuclear weapons. The threat was directed to allies of the United States, such as Japan and South Korea, but since these nations could not really face North Korea alone, the onus for deterrence was laid on the United States. Before Trump, no sitting US president had met with Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea. But Trump was not like any president before him. North Korea had nuclear weapons and Trump did not feel like avoiding them was a good idea. So he agreed to meet with Kim. Their first meeting was in June of 2018 and it was unprecedented. In a bid to achieve some understanding (even if not peace) Trump met Kim again in 2019 and he did so even twice that year—in February and in June.

Before these meetings, Kim Jong Un was acting like he wanted to strike South Korea and Japan. His posture was quite belligerent. When Trump saw this, he apparently considered the fact that striking North Korea will definitely result in retaliation. And for a country like North Korea, that retaliation could be nuclear. There was no way Trump was going to allow a counter strike that could kill thousands of Americans. And Kim needed to be stopped. The only human way of preventing a retaliation by North Korea if America struck was to destroy the whole of North Korea in one massive barrage. Guess what? Trump was willing to do that. Or at least he was willing to threaten such an action. He chose to threaten Kim at the United Nations during his speech on the 19th of September, 2017. It was his first UN speech as President of the United States. Recall that he was sworn into office on the 20th of January of that same year. According to Trump, if the United States is forced to defend itself and its allies against North Korea’s nuclear threats, he would have no choice but to “totally destroy North Korea.” Those were his exact words. In order not to make Kim Jong Un take his threat casually, Trump backed up his threat with a show of force. Four days after his UN speech, he sent B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by F-15C fighter jets from Okinawa in Japan to fly very close to North Korea. Even though not nuclear-armed anymore, the Lancer bombers carry the largest payload of any United States bomber and Kim apparently got the message and began to back down. Shortly after that, he indicated he was willing to meet with Trump and their first meeting took place in June 2018.

For many years now, Kim Jong Un has not been in the news. He has kept his nuclear arsenal but has been quiet. Nobody knows what Trump whispered in his ears during their meetings but Rocket Boy (the name Trump gave him while delivering the 2017 UN speech) seemed to have grown up and no longer throws a tantrum every now and then by testing nuclear weapons. That is the Trump doctrine—peace through strength. He was willing (humble enough) to meet with Kim Jong Un just to de-escalate tensions. And this is the same reason why he wants to arm the United States very dangerously and far above their closest rivals—not that the US has any equal in firepower even today. It is not so as to unleash this tremendous firepower; it is so that when he says stop to any world leader, that world leader would add two and two together and consider the calamity that awaits them if they resist Trump.

Let’s not forget that Donald Trump was the initiator of the Abraham Accords. That accord is one of the most important national security gains of the State of Israel in recent times. Like I have stated in past articles, Israel is rich and very prosperous. The only thing Israel needs is peace. Unfortunately, Israel is surrounded by over 200 million Arabs, many of whom are willing to lay down their lives just to injure Israelis even if they may not succeed in killing them. So, making peace with any Arab or neighbouring country is one of the most important strategic national security imperatives for Israel. And Donald Trump enabled this with four countries in his first term: the UAE (Dubai), Morocco, Bahrain, and Sudan. Before then, only Egypt and Jordan had peace with Israel. But even as I write this article, I just got the breaking news that the Abraham Accords has been expanded and that Trump released a statement announcing the inclusion of Kazakhstan. For those who may not know, Kazakhstan is at least 70% Muslim. So there is no doubt that it is a Muslim country. During the announcement, Trump was careful to add that Kazakhstan is just the first country to join the Abraham Accords in his second term. He categorically added that more countries are expected to follow. I told you the man is greedy didn’t I? Notably, he ended the press release by quoting the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 5: Blessed are the peacemakers.

In an earlier article, I already stated how Trump is angling to compel (or strongly encourage) Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords. As the leader of Sunni Islam, the inclusion of Saudi Arabia in the Abraham Accords is going to be one of the most consequential foreign policy achievements of any US president ever—if Trump is able to pull it off. Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation on earth and Indonesia is in play, as far as the Abraham Accords is concerned. Don’t be very surprised to hear or read that Indonesia has joined the Abraham Accords. Trump, I can assure you, is working on that and Indonesia, from the little I was able to gather, seems favourably disposed to the prospect of peace with Israel. Trump wants everything and is not shy about his desire. He wants peace between Israel and every Muslim country willing to take advantage of the deal presented in the Abraham Accords and is not shy about targeting the big two—Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Indonesia, because it is the largest Muslim nation on earth, and Saudi Arabia, because it is the leader of Sunni Islam.

Recall that peace with Saudi Arabia was one of three goals Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set for himself when he returned to power in late 2022. The second goal is the destruction of the Iranian nuclear weapons programme and the third has to do with Israel’s technological dominance in the Middle East and the globe. Not surprisingly, Trump has been working with Netanyahu to achieve his goals. But Trump is so greedy for peace he even attempted rapprochement with Iran. Netanyahu and the Israelis do not believe they can have peace with Iran because it is an official policy in Iran to seek the destruction of Israel. But Trump still tried to find a way to avoid war with Iran. Some may have forgotten that before the 12-Day War between Israel and Iran during which the small but mighty Jewish State gave War Colleges around the world many lessons to teach their students, Trump wrote an open letter to the real strong man of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This man is more powerful than the President of Iran and Trump wrote to him, asking that they talk so as to decommission their nuclear weapons programme and prevent Israel from going ahead with an airstrike they had threatened. He gave the Ayatollah 60 days. If the man thought Trump was joking, the day after that 60-day ultimatum was the day Israel launched its brilliant campaign that has humiliated Iran in the eyes of the whole world. The Israelis seem to have been working with spiritual forces during that war, but there is reason to believe that it was just superior technology, preparation, coordination, and, of course, the cunning of the Mossad, which quotes the Bible for their motto and makes war with deception. Within the first few days of the war, Israel was able to locate and neutralize virtually all the top commanders of the Iranian army (including commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps IRGC) and they were also able to take out top nuclear scientists. In 12 days, although Iran was shooting missiles into Israeli cities indiscriminately, Israel refused to randomly kill ordinary Iranians. With the air superiority they had over the skies of Iran for several days (having disabled or destroyed Iran’s missile defences) Israel could have dropped heavy bombs on Iranians cities and destroyed lives and property on a scale that would have shocked the world. But they did not do so. They focused on targeting decision makers to the extent that the Ayatollah had to be taken into a bunker. Trump later clarified that both the United States and Israel knew where he was hiding. And Israel wanted to take him out at some point. It was the same Trump that held Israel back.

Trump, the greedy peacemaker, also held Israel back when Israel sent several war planes to Iran to retaliate against an illegal strike by Iran after the ceasefire had gone into effect. Trump knew that if Israel had struck Iran again, the ceasefire would have collapsed. So in spite of the illegality of the Iranian strike and the fact that the Israeli warplanes were already on their way to Iran to take vengeance for the people killed when an Iranian missile hit a residential building, Trump used his leverage over Netanyahu to get him to turn the planes back. There is no human being alive that would have been able to compel or convince Netanyahu to turn back Israeli warplanes on their way to Iran on a revenge mission. But Trump did that. And it was because he preferred peace to war. He had already dispatched a few B2 bombers to hit the underground nuclear facilities in Iran and he knew that Israel had humiliated Iran in the eyes of those who understand warfare. So he felt it was not worth damaging the ceasefire. To secure that ceasefire, he was willing to let the blood of those four or five Israelis go unavenged. Just to sustain the peace he had achieved.

Everybody knows how much effort Trump put in to achieve the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But not many people know of the many other efforts Trump has made to achieve peace or at least the cessation of hostilities around the world. There was India versus Pakistan, Thailand versus Cambodia, Egypt versus Ethiopia, Serbia versus Kosovo, Democratic Republic of Congo versus Rwanda, and, of course, Armenia versus Azerbaijan. Trump is also keen on ensuring that Lebanon and even Syria are brought into the Abraham Accords. No wonder, even though the Nobel Peace Prize was inexplicably given to someone else (a female political activist from Venezuela) that peace prize was dedicated to Trump and he was called the Peace President. This is how far his greed has taken him. He is now bigger than the Nobel Peace Prize because the winner of the peace prize turned around to dedicate the prize to him, proving that the Nobel Committee aired. I personally have lost respect for the Nobel Committee after this blatant show of animosity against Trump, but that is a story for another day.

As any mature person will tell you (especially those knowledgeable about history and military affairs) those who want peace must prepare for war. I will not comment on Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern, and the threat of military action that followed that designation. All I will do is copy and paste some of the words of Professor Ishaq Akintola, as reported by Punch Newspapers and other equally reputable media organizations in Nigeria. For those who do not know him, Professor Ishaq Akintola is the very aggressive and sometimes very controversial Executive Director of the Muslim Rights Concern–MURIC. To the best of my knowledge, Professor Akintola is the most vocal advocate for Muslim rights in Nigeria. Below are his words, as reported by the Nigerian media:

Taken contextually, Trump’s threat should be seen as directed at terrorist groups. If that is so, our response to the threat is simple and straightforward. Terrorists are not part of us. Their methods stand in contradistinction to the tenets of Islam. We condemn terrorism, and we will not associate with those who kill and maim. We reject ideologies of kidnapping and extortion. They are alien to Islam. US strikes will make sense if they are directed at terrorist groups like Boko Haram, ISIS and ISWAP, who have been killing both Muslims and Christians. Bandits who have been kidnapping both Muslims and Christians should also be on Trump’s hit list. Trump and the US will be hailed if this is the objective.

Regarding President Trump’s threat, Nigerians should remain calm. There is no cause for alarm, particularly for peace-loving and law-abiding Muslims and other Nigerians. The truth is that the Nigerian government has been fighting these criminals. Our gallant soldiers have been in the trenches all along against these enemies of humanity. Both our government and the good people of Nigeria will be glad if America would confront them. We need such help, and it will be good riddance to bad rubbish if every Boko Haram, ISIS and ISWAP element in this country can be eliminated.

We urge law-abiding Muslims and other Nigerians to eschew thoughts of anti-Trump or anti-American actions over this threat. Nigerians should go about their lawful duties without entertaining any fear. The world is watching. In particular, we warn against the formation of any militant group by any Islamic organisation in response to Trump’s threat. Such groups are most likely to end up harassing innocent Nigerians, including Muslims. Muslim youths, North and South of the country, are advised to avoid public protests over Trump’s threat. We should allow the Nigerian government to handle the matter through diplomatic channels. To the Nigerian government, we advise persuasion and robust diplomacy. Threats should not be met with counter-threats.