David Axelrod calls for special laws to curtail monetization of the presidency

President Donald Trump has come under increasing scrutiny for allegedly monetizing his presidency to enrich himself and his family. Most recently, his disclosure of 3,700 stock trades caused an uproar among his critics, with many calling on Congress to take action. While Democrats push for measures, political consultant David Axelrod shared a snippet from an op-ed claiming that after Trump, ethical norms will be converted into statutes, which will prevent future presidents from enrichment. 

Earlier this month, new reports revealed that in the first three months of ​2026, over 3,600 stock trades were made on behalf of the President, holding a cumulative ​value of between $220 million and around $750 million. Sharing a snippet from Fareed Zakaria's op-ed in the Washington Post on X, Axelrod claimed that Trump's conduct will push lawmakers to create a special committee to create statutes that will put future presidents in check. "After Trump, the urgent task for the American republic will be to turn norms into statutes, curtail the ethical immunities of the presidency," he wrote, adding that the committee will find legal ways to ensure that the highest office in the world "can never again become a platform for family business."

The comments came when it was revealed that Trump, in the first quarter of this year, issued buy and sell orders for thousands of stocks, many of them involving companies whose profits have been directly impacted by his policy decisions. According to the Associated Press, top trades include $5 million in Nvidia, which was cleared by Trump to sell its advanced chips to China last year. His portfolio also included stocks of major U.S. military suppliers like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman, whose profits were impacted by the Iran War. 

While recent presidents have stayed away from running business ventures while in office, Will Ragland, vice-president for research at the Center for American Progress, a Democrat-leaning think-tank, told CBC that what Trump has done in his time in office is unprecedented. Ragland added that those before Trump observed "a set of ethical norms" and had "a sense of shame" over colluding their personal financial interests and the presidency, but Trump has diminished both. "The norms and sense of shame are out the window. The Office of Government Ethics really has no teeth, and if it did, it would submit its charges to a Department of Justice that is under [Trump's] thumb," Ragland told the publication. 

Furthermore, a report from the New Yorker last year pegged Trump's financial gains since his 2025 inauguration at $3.4 billion. However, more recent updated trackers like the one from Forbes Magazine suggest that Trump has added $4.2 billion to his U.S. holdings since 2024, and according to the "Trump family digital grift wealth tracker" launched by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, the President has amassed additional wealth totalling $5.1 billion. 

Ragland believes that only Congress can hold Trump accountable for the questionable financial dealings, and the process would start with an impeachment. This would seemingly be possible only if the Democrats manage to win the upcoming midterm elections and gain control of the House of Representatives.