Page G3From§Each9 November 2026
The Family Octagon
The chair, not the family: the roles outlive the occupants, which is how one strip spans presidencies. A new panel Sundays. The dotted line is the receipt path; the captions identify no one — the reader does that.
The cast
THE CHAIR — The office itself; whoever sits it inherits the strip. The chair never speaks.
THE BROTHER — Seventy years of him: Donald Nixon, $205,000 from Howard Hughes in 1956 to float the family burger chain — the vice president's brother, later wiretapped by the Secret Service on his own brother's say-so; Billy Carter, registered foreign agent of Libya after $220,000 he called a loan, no agreement signed, no collateral (Senate inquiry, 1980); Roger Clinton, Secret Service codename "Headache," pardoned on his brother's last morning (Jan. 20, 2001); Neil Bush, Silverado director 1985-88, $1.6 billion bailout, FDIC settlement with his own $50,000 piece.
THE SON — Pardoned Dec. 1, 2024 — full and unconditional, for anything from Jan. 1, 2014 through the date of signing; the years chosen, not served.
THE SON-IN-LAW — Six months out of the West Wing, $2 billion from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund — whose own screening panel found the new firm "unsatisfactory in all aspects" and was overruled by the crown prince's board (2021; Senate Finance inquiry, 2024).
THE HEIRS — Found liable with the company for fraud at trial (Feb. 2024); the half-billion penalty thrown out on appeal (Aug. 2025), liability findings partly affirmed, the case still climbing.
THE PROPERTY — The house that charges admission: Mar-a-Lago's initiation fee doubled to $200,000 effective the January the presidency began (2017), and stood at $1 million by the next election (2024).
THE GIFT SHOP — The coin: the top 220 holders of $TRUMP bought dinner with the president at his golf club, May 22, 2025 — $148 million among them; the top 25 got a private reception and a White House tour (House inquiry, 2025).
the facts
“…a full and unconditional pardon for those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” — the Executive Grant of Clemency
the facts
On his last morning in office, among 176 grants of clemency, the president pardoned his half-brother's 1985 cocaine conviction. The Secret Service's codename for him was “Headache.”
the facts
In January 1957 Howard Hughes lent Donald Nixon $205,000 for his “Nixon’s” drive-in restaurant in Whittier, California; it went bankrupt in less than a year. TIME, Nov. 26, 1973: the Secret Service tapped the phone of F. Donald Nixon, “the President’s trouble-prone brother.” An agent: “They wanted to keep track of what he was doing. We have to protect the image of the President.”
the facts
The Senate subcommittee, Oct. 2, 1980: “the payments totaling $220,000 by Libya to Billy Carter are additional indicia of the influence or control by Libya over him”; his registration as a foreign agent and the consent judgment came “on July 14, 1980.” The White House, the same day: “Billy Carter had no influence or effect on any U.S. Government policy or actions concerning Libya.”
the facts
UPI, May 30, 1991: Neil Bush and ten other former officials of Silverado agreed to a $49.5 million settlement with the FDIC; “Bailing out Silverado is expected to cost taxpayers $1.6 billion.” The Washington Post, March 27, 1992: “Pact Costs Neil Bush $50,000.” The Office of Thrift Supervision found “breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest.”
the facts
Senate Finance Committee letter to Affinity Partners, Sept. 24, 2024, quoting the Saudi PIF investment committee’s June 2021 minutes: “the operational [due diligence] shows that they are unsatisfactory in all aspects.” “The Saudi PIF’s full Board of Directors, led by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, reportedly overruled the investment committee and approved the investment.” “Affinity has pocketed $157 million in fees from foreign clients, including $87 million from the Saudi government,” “while generating no return on investment for its clients.”
the facts
CNBC, reported by WPTV, January 2017: “the initiation fee is now $200,000 and took effect on January first”; it “had been $100,000 since 2012.” Bloomberg Businessweek interview, reported July 17, 2024: the initiation fee rises from $700,000 to $1 million in October, with four memberships open.