I hear a lot of consternation over Presidents Trump and Musk and DOGE taking over the federal payment system in the Department of the Treasury. Representative Gregory Meeks on MSNBC just now couldn’t get beyond the fact that one of Musk’s henchmen is 19 years old. But it’s all misdirection; it’s the sound and fury signifying nothing that they want you to look at. Is Elon Musk going to steal my identity when he finds my social security number? I doubt it.

Meanwhile, over in the shadow (well, perhaps not that dark), Donald Trump is doing what he’s done his entire career: planning big real estate deals which offer him the maximum opportunity to skim and grift for his (and his compatriots’) benefit, while stiffing those he’s going to use.

His announcement that the US is going to take over the Gaza Strip is simply the latest instance of his lifelong aim of self-aggrandizement through real estate dealing. Replace “US” in that headline with “Trump Organization,” and it could have been the 1980s: throw out the people who have no money in a run-down neighborhood, rebuild it with the Trump name writ big on the buildings, stiff the construction workers who did the dirty work, and proclaim his own greatness while lining his own pockets.

And the GSA selling half the property it manages? That means a large number of buildings coming onto the market in a short span of time, meaning the prices will depress through oversupply. What does Donald Trump do? Remember, he’s the first president in history to not divest his business interests, or place them in a blind trust. I wouldn’t bet against The Trump Organization (and his allies) buying up a lot of that property, and then leasing it back to the government.

As much as he talks about shrinking the government, there is a the government does that cannot simply be thrown away with the stroke of a pen. But removing those pieces from the government’s control, and parceling them out to private companies offers so much more opportunity to skim.

None of it is irrational; all of Trump’s moves make perfect sense, if we only remember his goal. It has never been “what can I do to make things better for others?” It is always “what can I do to make the most money for myself?”