Donald Trump’s Stock Trading is Out of Control

Remember when Jimmy Carter placed his peanut farm in a blind trust?

By: Austin Abbring

July 26, 2026

I have this weird suspicion that we will not see any serious legislation surrounding members of Congress owning and trading stocks while they hold public office. Not while this administration is at the helm. The recent passing of the Stop Insider Trading Act (SITA) in the House is a small step in the right direction; however, in its current form it is largely insufficient, much as the STOCK Act of 2012 is. Should SITA pass the Senate and be signed by the president, lawmakers would not be able to purchase any new stocks, but they would not have to divest any holdings they currently have. Republicans also snuck in elements of the SAVE Act as well to force a large number of Democrats to vote against this bill in an act of political theatre. Knowing MAGA as I do, they will fall for it when midterm ads roll out.

We desperately need legitimate legislation surrounding stocks and trading by public office holders for clear reasons. The immense conflicts of interest, the ethical concerns, the distrust it creates among the general public, and the exclusive access to nonpublic information are massive concerns along this bipartisan issue. Of this current Congress, nearly half (48%) own stocks. I think anything below either forcing senators and representatives to fully divest or placing their assets in a blind trust once they take office would be an abject failure. From the polls I have read, over 80% of Americans, Democrats, Republicans, and independents support banning trading by Congress. This needs to be addressed promptly, as our current president is out of control in terms of his trading.

Anyone who follows politics even remotely closely, I am sure, has heard conservatives bring up Nancy Pelosi’s stock trading throughout her career in government. They cite her as one of their primary reasons why they distrust Democrats, Congress, politicians, et cetera. Since taking office in 1987, she has made a little over 200 stock trades. I want to make it clear that I agree that it is problematic; I am fully against Congress trading and utilizing their leverage to further profit from public office. On that same coin, however, I almost never hear those same conservatives criticize Donald Trump’s trading. 

Now, I do not want to make it an inglorious competition among which legislators and cabinet members have done slightly less trading than the other. Nonetheless, in terms of profiting from office and their stock transactions, Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump could not be further from each other. Forget planet; Donald Trump is in his own galaxy on this issue. Let us run through some quick numbers here and see if you can spot why:

• Donald Trump’s assets are not in a blind trust; they are held in a trust managed by himself with his son, Don Jr., as the main trustee, and other family members.

• Donald Trump’s first term saw around 600 transactions over those first four years (already more than Pelosi’s 200 since 1987)

• After taking office in 2025, Trump has made between 21,000 and 22,000 securities trades

• In 2026 alone, there have already been 3,600 transactions.

• In 2026, 63 transactions per day; in 2025, it was 85 per day.

• Between all the Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden presidencies put together, there were zero stock trades made while they served as president.

• Since taking office, the low-end estimates indicate that Donald Trump has amassed an additional $2 billion to his net worth. (Don’t worry, he donated his salary, which would have accounted for .0002% of that additional value to his net worth during this time period.)

I don’t think you need me to tell you how problematic those numbers are. Again, I am not trying to muddy the waters any further, as this is a bipartisan issue that I strongly support swift action against, as I view it as a pertinent threat to our democracy. However, that is absolute insanity on a scale we have never seen before by any politician or president in this country’s history. We must do better.