Trump, 79, Whines About ‘Working Like a Dog for No Money’
President Trump hails his “no money” grind while pursuing a $230m DOJ payout.
Truth Social
Donald Trump posted a Truth Social meme thanking himself for “working like a dog for no money.”
The 79-year-old posted the image of himself walking in the dark across the White House’s South Lawn, looking tired and with his tie undone.
His bizarre complaint comes as the Trump fortune reportedly diversifies and grows through presidency-adjacent businesses that have raked in billions of dollars.
Donald Trump's Truth Social posts in which he claims to have been "working like a dog for no money" clash with reports about his rapidly increasing wealth.
Truth Social
The meme praised his “sacrifice” and was accompanied by a caption from the president that read, “Thank you. Big progress for America being made!”
He posted the nod to himself ahead of his trip to the Far East.
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His claim, though, is at odds with reality, as Trump has not exactly gone without financial reward during his presidential career.
By law, he earns $400,000 a year, along with $50,000 for expenses, $100,000 for travel, and $19,000 for entertainment.
There is little doubt Trump works hard, but some of his claims don't ring true.
Takashi Aoyama/Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images
During his first term, he accepted the pay and publicly donated the quarterly checks—about $1.6 million total—to various federal agencies. He vowed to do the same in his second term.
A detailed analysis in The New Yorker in August, however, estimated the Trump family stands to have enriched itself by about $3.4 billion through ventures tied to his political brand, including corporate deals, PAC spending, and splashy crypto and media plays.
Trump’s claim about working for no pay also comes as he seeks around $230 million in compensation from the Department of Justice over investigations into him, including the Mar-a-Lago documents probe and the Russia inquiry.
Trump has said the U.S. taxpayer-funded payout could be given to charity or used to fund a gaudy $350 million ballroom, which has seen the White House East Wing demolished.
Trump—who claims he works for "no money"—displays a rendering of his proposed White House ballroom, which he says could be funded from a $230 million claim against the DoJ.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
House Democrats have opened an inquiry into the proposed payout, with Rep. Jamie Raskin warning it could initially be concealed through an administrative process.
Trump’s brand has been a cash engine throughout his political life. His leadership PAC, Save America, has doubled as a legal-defense fund, burning through mountains of donor money.
In 2023 alone, Trump’s committees shelled out more than $50 million on legal costs, according to FEC data, including stretches where the PAC was torching roughly $230,000 a day on lawyers.
Beyond politics, the family has mined merch and crypto-adjacent schemes.
His businesses have also drawn scrutiny. Foreign delegations steered more than $700,000 to his D.C. hotel during the first two years of his first term. In late 2020, the White House even threatened the Washington Post after it revealed that the Trump Organization charged federal agencies over $900,000.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Beast in a statement, “The media’s continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read. Neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest.”
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