The world’s richest man and the world’s most powerful man appear to be engaged in massive self-dealing. Small abuses seem to happen every day. Trump supplicants curry favor by patronizing his various properties. Musk builds traffic on his social media platform X by first announcing policy decisions on it before they are presented through official channels. But these are minor infractions compared to the apparent major corruption that reaches into billions of dollars.

For example, Trump has launched his own meme-coin, $TRUMP, and is participating in several other cryptocurrency ventures. While his ownership stake in these entities is opaque, he will rake in many billions of dollars if they are successful. And, the likelihood of their success is directly increased by policy initiatives he is actively promoting, especially his Executive Order creating a Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve. In addition, many of his foreign policy decisions risk being inappropriately influenced by future development opportunities he sees for himself and his family.

Musk is the majority shareholder in several companies with multiple billions in government contracts, while simultaneously taking actions through DOGE that directly affect their competitive prospects. A particularly egregious conflict is the report that a $2.4 billion contract that Verizon has with the FAA may be canceled in favor of Musk-owned Starlink. There is also the on-again, off-again $400 million State Department contract to Musk for Tesla Cybertrucks.

While the various conflicts of interest are largely independent of each other, many opportunities exist for mutual back-scratching, such as Musk’s recent offer of a $100 million direct contribution to Trump’s political organization and Trump’s promotion of Tesla vehicles on White House grounds.

In several different ways, Trump has effectively said, “if the President does it, it is not illegal,” and he has left it up to Musk to decide if any of his actions raise conflicts of interest, so there are no guardrails on the two main players. And subordinates will also be increasingly responsive to their mutual financial interests — especially as career civil servants and federal ethics officers are systematically replaced by loyalists.

In light of the pair’s mind-boggling wealth (Elon Musk’s net worth, of over $300 billion, would result in an unbroken line of $100 bills encircling the earth more than ten times), it is particularly galling that Trump was indifferent while Musk gleefully slashed USAID assistance to the world’s poorest, many of whom are literally starving and incapacitated by easily-cured diseases. Most Americans will be less vulnerable to life-threatening risks from the staffing and funding reductions necessary to offset the Trump tax cuts, which largely benefit millionaires and billionaires. But some individual Americans will lose their lives and no U.S. community will be spared the impacts of Musk’s budget chainsaw.

Locally, the numerous federal labs and the University of Colorado Boulder make the city especially vulnerable to targeted funding reductions in areas such as climate change, renewable energy, medical research and general science. Less affluent areas of Boulder County will suffer more from the inevitable cuts in family support programs like Medicaid and food assistance. While the local costs in terms of jobs and local economic opportunity will be significant, the nation will lose much more over time in terms of innovations and investments in people and things not made because of the corrupt diversion of funds.

What can and should be done to confront this apparent presidential-level corruption and its costs to individuals, communities and the nation’s future? First, the press needs to continue to investigate, expose and highlight all instances of leadership abuse. Congress needs to intensify its oversight and strengthen conflict-of-interest laws. The courts must ensure that the president and his associates abide by and faithfully execute those laws. Finally, and most importantly, we the people must elect representatives who champion government integrity at all levels and especially insist that all future presidential candidates firmly commit to eliminating the stench of corruption currently emanating from the Executive Office of the President.

Edward G. Sanders is a former OMB associate director for National Security and International Affairs. Sanders lives in Boulder.