When President Trump decided in his first term to host the annual Group of 7 summit of world leaders at his own private golf club in Miami, the act of self-dealing was so astonishing that it incited an uproar among fellow Republicans, forcing him to scrap the idea.
Now in his second term seven years later, Mr. Trump has decided to host the Group of 20 annual summit of world leaders at his private golf club in Miami in December — and this time the plan has generated practically no protest.
The unprecedented blitz of self-enrichment by Mr. Trump, his family and his friends since he returned to the White House last year has become so extensive, so profligate and so brazen that he has effectively moved the goal posts of what is considered out of bounds. An act that was deemed an outrage in 2019 is barely noticed in 2026.
Mr. Trump has blurred the line between personal and public interests so much that it is hardly distinguishable anymore. He personally made at least $2.2 billion last year through business ventures and investments, many with implications for government policy. His family-backed firm introduced a cryptocurrency called stablecoin just months before he signed legislation promoting stablecoin. He accepted a luxury jet from Qatar. He arranged for his administration to grant him immunity for any back taxes and penalties that he owed, potentially more than $100 million.
In recent days, Mr. Trump has ordered the government to use taxpayer dollars to air television advertisements lauding himself, commercials that resemble campaign ads even as voters are already casting ballots in this year’s midterm elections. Mr. Trump’s private business last month filed a trademark application for Trump TV, seeking to control the name of a streaming service that the White House in theory uses for official presidential communications.
Melania Trump, who already was paid millions of dollars for a flattering self-promotional film by Amazon, a federal government contractor, now has a two-part docuseries about herself to be released this fall. Donald Trump Jr. allowed a Russian business mogul close to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, to pay for part of his wedding after-party in the Bahamas. And President Trump next month will headline “the most exclusive dinner in the world” for the crypto firm that runs his meme coin.
The decision to bring the leaders of the G20 nations and their considerable entourages to Trump National Doral Miami from Dec. 14 to 15 in some ways offers the most clear-cut case study of how the standards have changed, not just from other presidencies but from Mr. Trump’s own first term.
“Let’s be honest — in the world of all the bad things he’s done, this is pretty small,” said Paul Rosenzweig, who was a senior counsel to Ken Starr’s investigation of President Bill Clinton and later served in President George W. Bush’s administration. “But it is a really good, easily understood example of how he has defined deviancy down.”
When Mr. Trump announced plans in 2019 to hold the G7 at Doral, it generated criticism not just from Democrats but from some fellow Republicans and even Fox News hosts. At the time, he was facing impeachment over his effort to strong-arm Ukraine into investigating Democrats and allies said it would undercut his support.
When Mr. Trump last year picked Doral for the G20 summit, he said he chose it because “everybody wants it there” and he promised that it would be cost-free. “We’re doing a deal where it’s not going to be money, there’s no money in it,” he insisted. “I just want it to go well.” He effectively hosted a practice run in March when he held a one-day meeting of Latin American leaders at the Doral club, a gathering that produced no uproar.
The White House did not respond to a request Friday asking why it was now appropriate to go forward with meetings at the president’s own property after canceling a summit there in the first term.
The only real Republican complaint about hosting the G20 at Doral was that Mr. Trump has invited Mr. Putin despite his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. As for the self-dealing, Republicans who once saw that as inappropriate have gone quiet. In 2019, Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho called the idea “politically insensitive” because it looked like “he’s doing it for his own benefit.” In 2026, by contrast, Mr. Simpson has endorsed the idea.
“Congressman Simpson supports what his colleague posted,” Lexi Hamel, his spokeswoman, said, pointing to an online statement by Representative Mario Diáz-Balart saying that he was “thrilled that the G-20 Summit is coming to Doral” in his Florida district. Asked about Mr. Simpson’s switch in positions, Ms. Hamel said, “A quote from seven years ago is quite a stretch,” without elaborating.
There are at least three major differences from seven years ago: First, Mr. Trump has fashioned a more pliant party by systematically using primaries to purge Republicans who defied him, sending an unmistakable warning to those remaining to stay in line.
Second, he has dismantled much of the regular apparatus of accountability in government by firing inspectors general; gutting the Office of Government Ethics and the Justice Department’s public integrity section; paralyzing the Federal Election Commission; and demoting, transferring or pushing out career prosecutors and F.B.I. agents deemed disloyal.
And third, Mr. Trump came into his second term more indifferent to criticism over possible ethical concerns. To win in 2024, he had to overcome two impeachments, four criminal indictments and a jury trial conviction on 34 felonies tied to hush money paid to an adult film actress, making him the first convicted felon ever to serve in the Oval Office.
In an interview with The New York Times in January, he explained that he did not feel the need to impose as many limits on his family’s business activities this time around “because I got no credit in the first term” and “because I found out that nobody cared.”
But while elected Republicans give him a pass, polls suggest that voters may in fact care when they decide this fall’s congressional elections. A record 89 percent of Americans said corruption is widespread in government, according to a poll released by Gallup last month, the highest level since the firm began asking the question two decades ago.
A separate survey by the Economist and YouGov last month offered registered voters 13 adjectives like “strong,” “effective,” “racist” and “dangerous” and asked which described Mr. Trump. The top choice of all 13 was “corrupt,” which 53 percent said applied to Mr. Trump, while only 23 percent said it did not and the rest had no opinion.
“Public outrage and pushback still work,” said Donald K. Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. “But Trump’s second term has been filled with so much unprecedented and harmful corruption that it can be hard for the public to keep up with every story, and the members of his party who are still in power have been unacceptably permissive.”
Another example that got lost in the flood of news lately was the trademark application filed by Mr. Trump’s private business for Trump TV. The White House debuted Trump TV shortly after barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the building (a decision temporarily blocked by a judge) and promoted it as an unfiltered substitute for his followers.
Trump TV is a livestreaming service showing Trump speeches and events at taxpayer expense on the White House website. But just before midnight on Sept. 24, three days after Trump TV went live, Mr. Trump’s private business filed a $1,400 application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to assert ownership of the name. “The applicant has a bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce,” the application stated.
Josh Gerben, a Washington trademark attorney who first noticed and called attention to the application, said such a trademark could allow Mr. Trump’s business to require the government to agree to a licensing deal to keep using the name. It could also allow the president to essentially take what is currently a government operation with him after he leaves office.
“They’re reaping the benefits from all the taxpayer funds that are being used to create and run that channel,” he said. “Obviously, politics has changed a lot in however many years. But I’m 45 years old and I can’t imagine any president before Trump getting away with this without being eviscerated in the media.”
There is some indication of pushback among Republicans as the election grows closer. Mr. Trump, while defending the partial financing of his son’s wedding weekend by a Russian oligarch as “totally allowed,” nonetheless told reporters after it was disclosed by ProPublica that “I understand that Don has paid him back.” Senator John Curtis, Republican of Utah, comparing it to Hunter Biden’s foreign financial business dealings, called for an investigation, and was joined by a couple other Republican senators.
But Mr. Rosenzweig said that Mr. Trump’s willingness to push boundaries more than his predecessors has changed the rules of the office, proving that the limits were generally voluntary and not mandatory. Past presidents did not mix business and government in the way that Mr. Trump has because it was thought to be inappropriate or politically risky. And so now new precedents are being set.
“He has succeeded, by his own terms, in demonstrating that almost everything about America was not law-based but norm-based,” said Mr. Rosenzweig. “And by breaching the norms without fear of consequence, he has redefined the norms.”
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