‘Terrible optics’: Even Trump’s MAGA allies can’t defend his $230 million Department of Justice shakedown

Even by the rock bottom standards of Donald Trump‘s presidency, his demand that the Department of Justice pay him $230 million in compensation for investigating him and launching legal action has left jaws on the floor across the political spectrum.

For Democrats, it’s unambiguous proof that Trump is outright siphoning taxpayers’ money into his own bank account. For Republicans, this demand is an indefensible headache that they can’t even begin to justify. Even stalwart MAGA supporters are miserably shaking their heads as they try to discourage Trump from living up to his terrible reputation.

.@benshapiro joins “Batya!” to explain why he thinks President Trump’s demand of $230 million from the DOJ as compensation for past legal battles brought under the Biden administration could be “rife with conflicts of interest.” @bungarsargon

MORE: https://t.co/0865BP9ItM pic.twitter.com/IXi0OKsl4Y

— NewsNation (@NewsNation) October 25, 2025

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is warning that this cash grab may put the whole MAGA project in jeopardy, saying this will lead to a “massive number of lawsuits or even an impeachment in the House” and pointing out that the demand is “rife with conflicts of interest.” Shapiro was careful to point out to his MAGA-mad audience that he’s still “incredibly sympathetic” to Trump for being “targeted by law enforcement”, just that he’s querying his strategy.

Nobody can defend this

MAGA pundit Scott Jennings simply said this is the kind of demand he should make after he’s left office. Speaking on CNN’s NewsNight panel, he said:

“My personal advice, if he asked me, would be, you having to table this until you leave office. The process started before you came to office, you then won an election and, you look, I think he maybe was damaged and he’s entitled to the process. If it were me and I were advising him, I would just say you could table it and put it off until you leave office.”

Also on CNN, Senator Thom Tillis said that making this demand while the government is shut down and federal workers aren’t being paid, is the worst possible timing:

“It’s terrible optics, particularly right now. We’re talking about a quarter of a billion dollars transferring, maybe to the President when we’re in a shutdown posture.”

But from Trump’s perspective, why shouldn’t he line his pockets while the going’s good? Sure, everyone is going to hate him for it, but Democrats already despise him and Republicans are too weak and submissive to stop him. What are they going to do? Tell him “no”? Yeah right! Trump has all the power: it’s time to milk taxpayers until they bleed.