As Walt Whitman says, "Every person contains a multitude." For this reason, always behaving ethically is heroic. It's a verified phenomenon: ethical values dissolve like a sugar cube when two or more values conflict. This process begins with a shift in perspective. We move from the ethical ideal to a more operational objective: achieving a short-term result. A contradiction arises between two objectives, and our brain can't handle it well. We end up rationalizing the choice with thoughts like "everyone does it," "it's too little," or "it's an exception," and we're left feeling completely at peace. An example: one day when we're in a hurry to get somewhere (operational result) we excuse ourselves from running amber lights (or even red lights) when we know we need to slow down.
There is an antidote, a kind of social gymnastics that invites us to pause before making the decision to ask ourselves about its consistency with our values, the consequences, and how we would feel if what we do ended up becoming public.
President Trump doesn't seem to have any problem prioritizing the economic objectives of his private activity over public interests. In fact, the appearance is the opposite: he boasts of taking advantage of his position of power, as if it were an attitude to be applauded.
An example of this is how Trump has adapted his position on cryptocurrencies based on his interests. The contempt he showed in 2021 transformed into an infatuation when companies in this sector generously donated money to his electoral campaign. An infatuation (and gratitude to the sector) that he has returned by stopping Biden's initiatives for greater control of the operations that may hide behind this form of payment. A decision that also benefits the company he created with his two sons in 2024, World Liberty Financial, which manages cryptocurrency investments. Its name is significant: global financial freedom, outside the control of central banks and states.
He has also used his public image to manipulate the upward value of the cryptocurrency that bears his name by inviting his main investors to dinner. In other words, access to the president of the United States can be bought by acquiring the currency from a company belonging to his family. The finances of Trump and his children are doing better than ever. This is a conflict of economic and emotional interests, because it involves his family. And there have been others, such as the pardon—on his first day in office—of the hundreds of people who had stormed the Capitol. In fact, when it comes to pardons, Trump has not been the only one. Biden also pardoned his son, who was convicted of tax crimes; he did so with just under a month left before he left the White House. It seems to be a tradition that presidential pardons are issued on the last day, when the country's full attention is focused on the successor.
This human difficulty in maintaining ethical behavior is offset by ethical codes, codes of conduct, and independent bodies that ensure their compliance. And yes, the United States has the Office of Government Ethics. And yes, Trump dismissed the former director, and Musk finished it off by stripping it of inspectors.
