How the Trump family turned Middle East diplomacy into a crypto cash grab
In case you missed it - the NYT published a new story about Trump that is a quintessential example of Schrödinger’s cat - both mindblowimg and not at all surprising - at the same time.
Looking at the story that’s been unfolding over the past few months, it seems like we’re witnessing what might be the most brazen pay-to-play scheme in modern American political history. And honestly, the fact that it’s happening in broad daylight makes it even more infuriating.
Here’s what went down.
In May 2025, an investment firm chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan - a member of the UAE’s ruling family who controls about $1.5 trillion in sovereign wealth - dropped $2 billion into World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin to pay for its investment in the crypto exchange Binance.
Never heard of World Liberty Financial?
That’s the cryptocurrency company owned by the Trump family and the Witkoffs. Yes, that would be Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, whose son Zach is a co-founder of the company.
Two weeks later - and this is where it gets really ugly - the White House agreed to let the UAE have access to hundreds of thousands of the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence chips.
These aren’t just any chips. We’re talking about the crown jewels of American technology, the kind of semiconductors that are so crucial to AI development that the Biden administration had specifically restricted their export to prevent them from potentially ending up in Chinese hands.
The timing here isn’t just suspicious - it’s insulting to anyone with half a brain. You park $2 billion with the president’s family crypto venture, and suddenly the U.S. government is agreeing to hand over access to technology it had kept on a tight leash over national security concerns. It’s like watching someone buy a lottery ticket and then immediately win the jackpot, except in this case the lottery is rigged and the jackpot is American national security.
What makes this whole thing even more maddening is that according to The New York Times, Steve Witkoff was advocating for the UAE chip deal while his family’s crypto company was landing the Emirati money - the White House says he was briefed on the chip talks but didn’t participate. Ethics rules are supposed to prevent government officials from engaging in deals that might benefit them personally, but apparently those rules are more like suggestions when your last name is Trump or Witkoff.
The scale of potential corruption here is staggering.
World Liberty Financial isn’t some side hustle - a Trump business entity owns about 40% of the company and is entitled to 75% of all revenue from coin sales. The Trump family was handed 22.5 billion units of the company’s coins for free.
We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in potential earnings flowing directly to the president’s family.
Ethics lawyers are calling this a violation of longstanding norms, but let’s be honest - we’re way past worrying about norms. This is about the fundamental question of whether American foreign policy is for sale to the highest bidder. And based on what we’re seeing, the answer appears to be yes, with a quantity discount for bulk purchases.
The national security implications are equally disturbing.
These AI chips aren’t toys - they’re the building blocks of the most powerful artificial intelligence systems in the world. The kind of technology that can be used for military applications, cyber warfare, and surveillance systems that make George Orwell’s 1984 look like a children’s book. The Biden administration restricted their export for good reason, recognizing that today’s business partner can become tomorrow’s adversary.
But here’s what really gets me about this whole situation. The Trump administration is essentially arguing that if we don’t sell these chips to the Middle East, China will. It’s the geopolitical equivalent of “if we don’t do it, someone else will” - the same logic drug dealers use to justify their business model.
Meanwhile, Democratic senators are sounding alarms about how this undermines American AI leadership and national security, but their protests feel like shouting into the void. When you’ve got $2 billion talking, apparently everything else becomes background noise.
The most absurd part?
This is all happening while Zach Witkoff and Eric Trump are out pitching crypto together - on a conference stage in Dubai in May, Witkoff announced the $2 billion deal and promised, “It’s only the beginning.” It’s like watching a real-time case study in how to monetize political access, complete with confetti at the Nasdaq and photo ops with convicted financial fraudsters.
This isn’t just about Trump or the Witkoffs - it’s about what we’re willing to tolerate as a society. When government officials can directly profit from foreign investments while simultaneously making policy decisions that benefit those same foreign investors, we’ve crossed a line that democracies aren’t supposed to cross.
The fact that we’re even having this conversation shows how far we’ve fallen. In a functional system, deals like this would trigger immediate investigations and resignations. Instead, we get press releases and celebration photos. It’s corruption so blatant that it makes previous political scandals look like jaywalking.
#ratcclips
Correction, September 28th, 2026: This essay first said a Trump business entity owns 60% of World Liberty Financial - it had cut its stake to about 40% in June 2025. It also put the words “pushing crypto to the next level” in the mouths of Zach Witkoff and Eric Trump - what Witkoff said on stage in Dubai was “It’s only the beginning.”
Update, September 28th, 2026: A few lines now say the $2 billion was a deposit into World Liberty’s stablecoin by a firm Sheikh Tahnoon chairs, credit The New York Times for the reporting on Steve Witkoff (the White House says he didn’t participate in the chip talks), and note the Biden administration had limited the chips rather than banning them.