Trump got some good financial news this week. But there’s a dark side

Donald Trump has had an encouraging day or two on the money front.

On Monday, a New York appeals panel lowered – to a mere $175m – the amount the former president needs to cough up as he challenges the huge judgment against him in his civil-fraud case. It’s not clear whether Trump can obtain such a bond – he has another week or so to try. He couldn’t raise an earlier, much higher sum, but this seems much more likely.

That means it’s possible that he can avoid having liens put on his buildings (his “babies”, as he called them). Welcome news in Trump World.

Then, on Tuesday, his media start-up had a wildly successful stock market debut as a public company. Since Trump owns 60% of Trump Media & Technology (which owns Truth Social), his stake is now worth more than $5bn, the Washington Post reported.

That development gave him a big status boost: Bloomberg put him, for the first time, onto its list of the 500 richest people. Still, there’s a hitch; he can’t sell his shares for six months. So the windfall doesn’t help with his immediate challenges.

Meanwhile, Trump keeps singing the blues. He even indirectly compared his troubles to someone else with a large following, praising as “beautiful” this message from a fan: “It’s ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you.”

I don’t feel concerned for Trump who, after all, is responsible for his thorny situation, despite his claims of victimhood.

But I do worry about America’s national security amid Trump’s financial ups and downs, because they make way for influence-peddling and mischief.

One reason is that major shareholders in Trump Media won’t be forced to publicly and immediately disclose their stakes. That’s