Hi, I’m Mary Trump. My uncle Donald is President of the United States, unfortunately. More importantly, I’m also a writer, activist, and clinical psychologist, and I started Mary Trump Media to call out the damage Donald and his corrupt enablers continue to do to our country.
Donald would like Americans to believe everything is going extraordinarily well, particularly when it comes to the economy.
Donald: We’re doing an unbelievable job. Costs are coming way down. I inherited. They talk about costs. I inherited very, very high costs, and they’re all coming down now. The food, the groceries, it’s all coming down. We’ve done a great job. I think we should be given an A+ on the economy.
He did inherit. He inherited a ton of money, which is why Donald doesn’t understand what it means to struggle economically in this country. It’s why he doesn’t care about lying to the American people about the fact that prices are going way up, for which, yes, I would give him an A++. Congratulations. It is becoming unaffordable to live in America. And perhaps that’s partially because Donald doesn’t believe there is such a thing as affordability, and he certainly isn’t making it something that is possible.
For Capital One customers, Donald’s lies are probably a little difficult to swallow. On July 31, Capital One disclosed that it had closed more than 300 accounts associated with Donald’s businesses in 2021 after a months long review by its anti money laundering team. The bank says the accounts showed activity with characteristics associated with potential money laundering, something for which Donald has been known since the 1990s, when he was allegedly laundering the money of Russian oligarchs. Donald’s businesses are now suing Capital One, claiming the accounts were closed for political reasons because we know how much banks love to support Democrats. Capital One denies that, of course.
Here’s where it gets interesting. In January 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued Capital One, accusing the bank of costing its savings customers more than $2 billion in interest. Capital One then donated $1 million to Donald’s inaugural committee. A month after Donald returned to office, his CFPB magically dropped the case against Capital One with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again. Now Donald has nominated Brian Johnson, a Capital One vice president, to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Customers are fighting for their money without the backing of the CFPB. On July 23, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Brian Johnson at his confirmation hearing.
This is what Senator Warren and Johnson said:
Warren: Mr. Johnson, do you still work for Capital One today?
Johnson: I do, Senator. I am here today in my personal capacity.
Warren: So you’re drawing a paycheck from Capital One right now as you sit here and testify in front of us?
Johnson: Senator, I’m testifying in my personal capacity today.
Warren: Okay. But they’re paying you to get confirmed for this job. I understand they’re also letting you keep a bonus that you haven’t yet earned when you leave. They must be really excited about getting you confirmed here. Congress did not create CFPB to aid and abet Trump’s corruption. You had a chance to take a different path, but all you’ve done today is indicate you’re there to keep the corruption machine humming.
Sounds about right. In January 2026, a federal judge gave preliminary approval to a $525 million private settlement involving Capital One savings customers. Warren has requested Capital One’s communications with the Trump regime concerning the CFPB’s decision to drop its case. Johnson has agreed to recuse himself from Capital One matters for two years if confirmed, and we know the extent to which we can count on promises coming from people working in the Trump regime. At his July confirmation hearing, Johnson would not commit to notifying Congress or the Inspector General if the White House contacted the CFPB about an enforcement matter involving one of Donald’s family businesses or major donors. That is what they call a tell.
Donald has also made building massive new AI data centers a cornerstone of his economic agenda. Data centers require enormous amounts of electricity, and in March Donald acknowledged the problem when he brought seven major technology companies to the White House and announced his Ratepayer Protection Pledge.
This is what was said at the White House:
This is going to ensure American AI dominance in the years ahead while also ensuring that American ratepayers, ordinary Americans paying their electric bills, aren’t paying anything more. And along with the proclamation that you’re signing, each of the CEOs of industry representatives that we have present here will be signing an actual copy of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, committing them to your vision for this industry going forward.
Donald responded:
Pretty good.
If you’re somebody who owns a data center, I’m sure it’s lovely. Ratepayer Protection Pledge sounds reassuring, but we’ve heard this kind of thing before. TrumpRx was supposed to solve high drug prices. Now the Ratepayer Protection Pledge is supposed to keep the AI boom from making your electric bills unaffordable. According to the latest federal data, electricity prices are still 4 percent higher than they were a year ago.
While Americans are being sold a promise in the form of protection from the cost of AI, Donald and his regime are positioned to make money from it because that is the point of all of this, of installing cronies and naming legislation in an Orwellian fashion. It sounds like you’re trying to achieve something to help the American people, while really what you’re doing is adding to the costs of living in this country if you’re not obscenely wealthy.
DAMAC Properties, run by Donald’s longtime business partner Hussain Sajwani, plans to invest at least $20 billion in U.S. data centers. DAMAC previously partnered with the Trump Organization on two Dubai golf courses that paid Donald millions of dollars in licensing and management fees. Donald has suggested DAMAC could receive expedited reviews for its data center projects. I wonder why. I’m sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he got paid millions of dollars to partner in projects with them.
Then, of course, there are the war profits. The seemingly forever war in Iran, remember that illegal, unconstitutional war of choice that Donald started and lost in one day, has completely disrupted global energy markets and helped send American gasoline prices through the roof. According to the latest federal data, gasoline costs 26.7 percent more than it did before the war started. Glencore reported that its energy trading profit had soared from just $40 million during the first half of last year to $2.66 billion this year. Phillips 66 reported that its quarterly profit had nearly quadrupled as the war boosted refining margins, and Aramco reported quarterly profit had risen 44 percent.
These statistics would be remarkable under any circumstances. But Donald spent years courting this industry and now he says they’re making too much money.
Donald: They’re making too much money. Okay. Based on a shortage, they’re making too much money. I don’t like it. And I should be the last one to say because I’m a big free enterprise guy. Nobody bigger. And you’re going to see oil when we’re finished with Iran, you’re going to see the prices drop through the floor. But they made too much money. Too much money. Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much, too much money. When you look at one company where they made 12 times what they made the year before, they ought to give some of that back to the public and they better cut the retail price, the consumer price. Too much money. You surprised I’m saying it? I’ll say it loud and clear. I’m not happy about it.
It’s simply because he’s not getting a big enough cut. Let’s be real. For Donald Trump, there’s no such thing as too much money, unless, of course, you’re a working American who’s struggling. What we’re talking about here is price gouging. The price of oil is going up, our expenses are going up, and yet the oil companies’ profits are expanding. That makes no sense. It’s illegal and it should stop. If only somebody had the power to stop it. Maybe the guy saying they’re making too much money.
During the 2024 campaign, just to give you some sense of how insincere Donald is being here, he asked oil executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign while promising policies favorable to their industry. Chevron donated $2 million to Donald’s inaugural committee. ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Occidental Petroleum each donated $1 million. Chevron reported roughly $12 billion in second quarter profit this year, while Exxon reported $14.5 billion. Chevron has since awarded employees a special bonus following its earnings surge.
On August 10, oil prices rose another 3 percent as uncertainty continued over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices are going up because of Donald’s actions. His buddies in the oil industry are profiting accordingly. All of the extra expenses are being handed down to the American consumer, and this is exactly as Donald would have it be.
Before the 2024 election, Donald promised that putting him back in office would make life more affordable, even though he now thinks the word affordability doesn’t exist and is a Democratic hoax. Consumers are fighting banks without the federal watchdog that was founded in order to help people fight the banks. The people and corporations with money, access, and connections to the Trump regime somehow keep finding opportunities to make even more money.
This economy isn’t working for working people because it wasn’t designed to. It was designed so people like Donald, his close inner circle, and the people with access to and influence over them can make as much money as they want. And remember, there is no such thing as too much unless it’s for the rest of us.
