Trump’s oligarchy
President-elect Trump has assembled an administration of unprecedented, mind-boggling wealth — smashing his own first-term record by billions of dollars.
- That’s even without counting the ballooning fortunes of his prized outside adviser and the world’s richest man: Elon Musk.
Why it matters: It’s not hyperbole to call this a government of billionaires. Whether it acts as a government for billionaires — as Democrats argue is inevitable — could test and potentially tarnish Trump’s populist legacy.
The big picture: Besides Trump, Musk and his fellow Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Vivek Ramaswamy, at least 11 billionaires will be serving key roles in the administration.
- They’ve been picked to lead the departments of Treasury (Scott Bessent), Commerce (Howard Lutnick), Education (Linda McMahon), Interior (Doug Burgum), the Small Business Administration (Kelly Loeffler) and NASA (Jared Isaacman).
- On Thursday night, Trump announced that tech investor David Sacks, an early executive at PayPal and top Musk ally, would serve as White House AI and crypto czar.
- Financier Stephen Feinberg has been nominated for the No. 2 position at the Pentagon; Trump family in-laws Charles Kushner (ambassador to France) and Massad Boulos (Middle East adviser) were tapped for diplomatic roles alongside billionaire donor Warren Stephens (ambassador to the U.K.).
- An additional four top appointees are hundred-millionaires: Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz (Medicare and Medicaid administrator), Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano (Social Security commissioner), real estate executive Steven Witkoff (Middle East envoy) and fracking CEO Chris Wright (Energy Department).
By the numbers: Trump’s projected Cabinet alone is worth at least $10 billion, according to research by Axios and the nonprofit Americans for Tax Fairness — an estimate that likely undervalues the true total.
- With Musk, Ramaswamy and other wealthy appointees included, the top of the Trump administration’s net worth is likely higher than the GDP of hundreds of countries, including Finland, Chile and New Zealand.
- President Biden’s Cabinet, by comparison, was worth an estimated $118 million when he took office, according to Forbes.
President-elect Donald Trump says that VC and All-In podcast co-host David Sacks will be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.”
The appointment of Sacks, who hosted a $300,000-a-person dinner at his San Francisco mansion to fundraise for Trump’s campaign, follows the appointment of fellow PayPal mafia member Elon Musk to co-lead the “Department of Government Efficiency.” According to Bloomberg, like Musk, Sacks will be “a special government employee” who can serve up to 130 days a year without divesting or publicly disclosing his assets. [Continue reading…]
The Hollywood Reporter reports on Jeff Bezos’s expectations about the second Trump administration:
“I am very optimistic this time around, I am very hopeful, he seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation, and if I can help him do that, I am going to help them,” he said, noting that big economic growth can help solve issues like the national debt. “I am very optimistic that President Trump is serious about this regulatory agenda, and I think he has a good chance at succeeding.”
As for the question about whether Elon Musk — who is Blue Origin’s biggest competitor, with SpaceX — would use his relationship with Trump to hurt Blue Origin or Amazon, Bezos seemed unconcerned.
“I take at face value what has been said, which is that he is not going to use his political power to advantage his own companies or disadvantage his competitors,” Bezos said.
In fact, he said, “I have had a lot of success in life not being cynical,” and expressed optimism about the future of AI, of interplanetary travel, robotics and other big-picture items.
“We are in multiple golden ages at once. There has never been a more extraordinary moment to be alive,” he said. “We are so lucky.”