By John Perkins
In my years as an economic hit man, I bribed government officials in countries around the world.
Legally.
I handed college scholarships to their children, overpaid subcontractors whose businesses were owned by the officials’ family members, offered favorable trade deals, and created other transactional debts. While many Americans identify corruption as the cause of poverty in lower-income countries, I know that corruption has two sides: the one who corrupts and the one corrupted. The economic hit man playbook uses legal bribery to exploit others.
Donald Trump learned from the same playbook. As I describe in my new book, The Art of the Steal: Trump and the Economic Hit Man Presidency, the main difference is that in my time all this was hidden – covered with a patina of legitimacy. Although every US president – Democrat and Republican alike – since World War II has used the economic hit man strategy, Trump is the first to make it part of his brand, openly flaunt it, and use it for his own personal gain.
Nowhere is this more visible than in his treatment of the January 6 rioters.
On his first day back in office in 2025, Trump issued sweeping, unconditional pardons to nearly sixteen hundred people convicted of or awaiting trial for attacking the United States Capitol. At least 140 police officers were injured that day. One later died. Several others committed suicide. In 2026, the corruption got worse. Trump established a $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to compensate personal allies of his who claim political persecution—including those previously convicted of the heinous January 6 crimes.
As part of this same package, Trump secured a settlement with his own Department of Justice that forever bars the IRS from auditing or prosecuting past tax returns for him, his family, and the Trump Organization.
Despite what ultimately happens to Trump’s pardons and the IRS deal, they send an unmistakable message: crime pays, as long as you’re loyal to me. It is the essence of the art of the steal.
Unlike most of the heads of state in countries where I corrupted governments, Trump makes no attempt to hide his actions. Bloomberg has estimated that the cryptocurrency ventures his sons actively promoted to foreign investors across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia have increased the family’s net worth by more than $1 billion, bringing the Trump fortune to a total of about $5 billion. These ventures include the TRUMP meme coin and World Liberty Financial tokens, widely dismissed by crypto industry analysts as "shitcoins.” They are sold primarily to people seeking access and influence with a sitting American president.
Attempts by foreign government and business leaders to gain favorable US treatment have also facilitated Trump's foreign real estate deals. Income from these during his second term is on track to exceed $430 million — nearly three times what he earned from overseas developments across his entire first term.
The examples of “legal” corruption seem limitless. The gift-giving to Trump is unlike anything in modern American history. The “gifts” Trump has received are worth roughly 100 times more than the combined value of gifts received by every other US president since 2001. A few examples:
Qatar: The Trump administration accepted a luxury Boeing 747 as a gift from the Qatari government. Qatar then was selected as the first purchaser of Raytheon’s Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aerial System Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS), designed to counter unmanned aircraft. source
Switzerland: A delegation of Swiss billionaires gave Trump an engraved gold bar worth $130,000 and a Rolex desk clock. Swiss tariffs were lowered from 39% to 15% source ten days later.
South Korea: President Lee Jae-myung presented Trump with a gilded replica of an ancient royal crown — described as the largest and most extravagant of the six remaining crowns from Korea's first unified kingdom — along with the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, South Korea's highest national honor. South Korea benefited from trade deals and an agreement to invest nearly $350 billion in US-based investments in manufacturing and technology sectors.
Pakistan: Pakistani officials brought Trump samples of rare earth minerals and formally recommended him for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. In return, the US cut tariffs on Pakistani goods to 19 percent (compared to India’s 25 percent) and a US firm pledged $500 million for rare earth mining in Pakistan. source
Trump did not invent the economic hit man system. Every president in my lifetime has relied on some version of it to help the US influence other countries and benefit US corporations. What Trump has done is strip away the pretense. He has dropped the mask — installing billionaires in his cabinet, celebrating greed as virtue, rewarding those who stormed the Capitol, selling effectively worthless coins to foreign officials and diplomats, and charging them premium rates to stay at his properties while they seek access to his administration. Trump has managed to use his corruption tactics not to benefit the US, but rather to help himself, his family, and his collaborators.
I used to wake up in the middle of the night drenched in the sweat of guilt – until I finally understood that the only road to redemption is to expose the system I knew from the inside and inspire people to take the actions necessary to change it. That is why I write books.
The Art of the Steal is both a warning and a call to action that offers a blueprint of specific things each of us – you – can do.
or at your favorite vendor.