Such arrangements make a mockery of the ethics laws and rules. Mr. Kushner is handing control over his real estate business to his family. His relatives could hand those assets right back to Mr. Kushner once Mr. Trump has left office. The same goes for Ms. Trump, who has also put her business interests into a trust managed by Mr. Kushner’s family. Yet, Ms. Trump will still have the final say on new deals, and the choice of when and whether to recuse herself from government business will be hers alone. It will be very difficult, perhaps impossible, for the public to know whether they are using their positions to aid their businesses.

WALL STREET PAL Where Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump have tried to apply a patina of ethical compliance to their affairs, others don’t even seem to care about appearances. The standout in this regard has to be Carl Icahn, a brash investor whom Mr. Trump has named as a special adviser on regulatory reform. Mr. Icahn has been pushing the Trump administration to change an Environmental Protection Agency rule that guides the way ethanol is blended into gasoline. It just so happens that this would directly benefit an oil refiner, CVR Energy, in which he owns a majority stake. The company has said that it would have saved $205.9 million last year had the change Mr. Icahn is advocating been in place then.

Still, Mr. Icahn and the administration claim that he is not subject to conflict-of-interest laws and rules because he is not a government employee. This is an obvious ruse. He is operating like an employee, and the president has given him tremendous access and influence — for example, Mr. Icahn interviewed the head of the E.P.A., Scott Pruitt, for that job. Mr. Icahn’s use of his proximity to the president to advance his own financial interests is a flurrying ethical red flag if there ever was one.

A HEALTH INDUSTRY INSIDER Mr. Trump has nominated Dr. Scott Gottlieb to run the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Gottlieb has been a consultant to and investor in health care companies, including pharmaceutical businesses seeking F.D.A. approval for their drugs. He says he will recuse himself for a year from any decision the agency takes involving 20 companies with which he has worked. Those recusals are fine, but they don’t solve the underlying problem. His deep industry ties make Dr. Gottlieb a bad choice to run the F.D.A.

He has argued that the F.D.A. is too cautious about approving new drugs and medical devices, a frequent criticism of industry executives. But many public health experts say that this is not true. The agency, in fact, approves most of the new drugs it reviews, and it approves them faster than regulators in Europe and Canada. A former top official at the F.D.A. in the George W. Bush administration, Dr. Gottlieb has already left the agency once to work for industry. He will have a strong incentive to keep drug makers happy, knowing that he will have another opportunity to walk through the revolving door between government and special interests.