Donald Trump, who decades ago described himself as “a bit of a P.T. Barnum,” has finally found his most lucrative act: being president.

He took in $2.4 billion last year, according to a Forbes analysis, which overlayed his financial disclosure report with bond filings, securities documents and court records to pinpoint a more specific number than the “at least $2.2 billion” widely reported in recent weeks. The $2.4 billion figure, a combination of operating revenue and proceeds from asset sales, dwarfs the estimated $760 million Trump received in 2024. It is also 6,000 times the current U.S. presidential salary of $400,000.

Trump seems to sense that political profiteering is not a good look. Asked about his recent windfall, he demurred, “I’ve made a lot of money before I became president,” then added, “You know why I’m profiting? Because the stock market is going up.”

The $2.4 billion figure does not include proceeds from his stock sales, which appear to have been largely reinvested into the market. Most of the year-over year increase, $1.4 billion, comes from cryptocurrency, an industry Trump once described as “based on thin air” but has since gleefully........

© Forbes