Jessica Tarlov’s recent claim that “40% of Donald Trump’s wealth has been accumulated while he was President” is such a jaw-dropping whopper, it deserves to be bronzed and displayed in the Museum of Media Malpractice. Not only is it wildly false, but it ignores the actual trajectory of Trump’s financial picture, which was a slow, painful slide downward through 2024.
Let’s set the record straight.
In 2016, Forbes pegged Donald Trump’s net worth at approximately $3.7 billion. By 2024, it had dropped to around $2.3 billion. That’s not an increase, that’s a contraction—a nearly 40% loss in value over eight years. And here’s the kicker: most of that decline happened *after* he left office. His brand was relentlessly targeted. His companies were cut off by woke banks. His properties were devalued in markets where liberal leadership torched city infrastructure. And media outlets like the one Jessica Tarlov works for cheered it all on.
So, where exactly did this mythical “40% increase” Tarlov is hallucinating come from?
Certainly not from facts.
And then came the turnaround—not during his presidency, but long after. In late 2024 and into 2025, Trump’s fortune began recovering thanks to smart moves in the tech and digital asset sectors. He launched Truth Social, a free speech alternative to the censorship czars in Silicon Valley, and later embraced blockchain and crypto ventures that capitalized on public backlash to centralized control. Those moves helped rebuild some of the value he lost—not all of it. By early 2025, Forbes now places him at about $5.1 billion. But that’s *after* a massive collapse and only recent recovery—again, not while in the White House.
It’s also worth noting—though the media never does—that Trump refused to take a salary as President. Every quarter of his first term, he donated the $400,000 annual compensation to various federal agencies, including the National Park Service, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services. And in his second term, he’s doing it again. Contrast that with Joe Biden, who has spent 50 years drawing paychecks from taxpayers while his family mysteriously rakes in foreign cash. Or the Obamas and Clintons, who saw their fortunes explode after leaving office by trading their influence for corporate speaking engagements and Netflix production deals.
Trump didn’t come to Washington to get rich. He was already rich. He came to fight for the American worker, and he paid a massive financial price for it.
Compare that with the usual suspects.
Barack Obama entered the White House with a net worth just north of $1 million. By 2024, he was pushing $70 million. Netflix deals, multi-million-dollar memoirs, and paid speeches across the globe. Bill Clinton made similar moves—entering office with a modest bank account, leaving with tens of millions. And Joe Biden, whose family members are under investigation for monetizing the Biden name while he was Vice President, has seen a fortune built more through proximity to power than anything resembling capitalism.
These guys turned public service into a launchpad for private wealth. Trump? He turned private wealth into public service—and paid dearly for it.
Jessica Tarlov, of course, ignores all of that.
She ignores the fact that Trump’s presidency was a financial liability to him. He didn’t profit—he bled. He lost business partnerships. He lost licensing deals. He lost property value. Unlike Biden, he didn’t have Hunter in the background peddling art and influence. And unlike Obama or Clinton, he didn’t exit the Oval Office and jump into a global branding spree. He fought lawsuits. He paid legal bills. He attempted to preserve what remained of his business empire while being relentlessly pursued by political and legal adversaries.
Truth Social, which Tarlov mocks, isn’t just a tech platform. It’s a resistance to state-corporate collusion in speech policing. It created jobs. It drew investment. It provided Americans with a digital town square, but Big Tech's decision to throttle opinions it didn't like ultimately undermined its purpose.
Trump’s embrace of crypto wasn’t some pump-and-dump hustle. It was a direct challenge to the centralized systems that failed Americans again and again, especially during COVID and under Bidenomics.
Tarlov doesn’t get any of this because she doesn’t want to.
It’s not that she can’t understand the numbers. It’s that she refuses to accept the truth: Trump is the only modern-era president whose wealth declined while serving and whose post-office gains came from creating something tangible. Something real. Something useful to Americans.
That’s not grift. That’s grit.
Tarlov wants you to believe Trump enriched himself in the White House. In reality, he hemorrhaged value while fighting for your energy independence, your religious liberty, your national security, and your economic prosperity. And now, clawing his way back in the private sector, he’s once again creating jobs and alternatives, not cashing in on ghostwritten memoirs or elite conference circuits.
Here’s the final word: Donald Trump lost billions while serving the country. He took no salary. He sacrificed his personal fortune. And now, as he rebuilds, he’s doing it the American way—by building, innovating, and competing.
Jessica, your comment isn’t just misinformed. It’s dishonest.
And no amount of spin will turn red ink into black profit.