America’s Oligarchs Have Arrived

America’s Oligarchs have arrived.

With their arrival, Trump’s faux “populism” is likely headed for the same dustbin where his “draining the swamp” commitment ended up.

Trump likes rich people.

The first big test of Trump’s “populism” will be who gets what in the huge tax cuts Trump and the Republican Congress are expected to enact in 2025.

Trump’s 2017 tax cuts were aimed at the wealthy. Households with income in the top one percent benefited the most, receiving an average tax cut of $61,090. The average tax cut for the majority of Americans – households in the bottom 60 percent? Less than $500 per household.

We know that Trump has a bromance going with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. So, it should be no surprise that Trump, like Putin, is unleashing billionaire oligarchs on our government.

Oligarch is defined as “a very rich business leader with a great deal of political influence.”

In the United States, that includes multibillionaires and Super Rich donors who give obscene amounts of campaign money to elect a President and receive influence over government decisions and other benefits in return.

Trump’s Oligarch Number One is Elon Musk, the world’s richest person.

Musk’s Super PAC spent an estimated $200 million to elect Trump, with Musk reportedly providing the “vast majority” of the money to his PAC.

Musk, in turn, is getting the keys to the kingdom.

Trump has empowered Musk to lead a private Department of Government Efficiency to propose ways to slash government size and eliminate regulation. Musk’s goal is to eliminate $2 trillion in federal spending.

In the process, Musk has the potential to obtain massive benefits for his companies, making him perhaps the greatest potential conflict of interest in modern times.

Here’s an example.

The National Highway Safety Traffic Administration has been reluctant to authorize robotic, self-driving cars. Musk reportedly has said he sees self-driving vehicles as the major source of his company Tesla’s value. (Tesla is currently valued at more than $1 trillion.) Musk has said he would use his new Department to get the federal agency to set up a new process for authorizing self-driving cars.

Additionally, Musk’s SpaceX company reportedly has received nearly $20 billion in government contracts. According to The New York Times: Musk’s companies “have been targeted in at least 20 recent investigations or reviews, including over the safety of his Tesla cars and the environmental damage caused by his rockets.”

Musk’s actions must be carefully watched to ensure he is not abusing his influence to financially benefit his companies and himself.

Another oligarch empowered by Trump is billionaire Howard Lutnik, Chair and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, who served as co-chair of Trump’s transition group and has been nominated to be Commerce Secretary.

According to The New York Times: “The role puts the Wall Street billionaire in charge of defending American business interests worldwide.” Trump has said Lutnik will also have “direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.”

Lutnik has potential conflict of interest problems as his business interests, including the Wall Street brokerage he heads, as The Times points out, “touch on many sectors ranging from commercial real estate to crypto, which could be affected by a wide area of government regulations.”

When billionaire Penny Pritzker was nominated by President Barack Obama to head the Commerce Department, Pritzker agreed to sell her interest in at least 221 companies and resign from 158 entities in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

Will Lutnik take steps, like Priztker, to avoid conflicts of interest?

Trump is “setting up the wealthiest presidential Administration in U.S. history,” according to USA Today.

The billionaires on his team, so far: Musk; Lutnik; Vivek Ramaswamy, who will partner with Musk at the Department of Government Efficiency; Interior nominee Governor Doug Burgum; and Education Department nominee Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive and former head of the Small Business Administration.

And then there are the multibillionaire donors who are part of the new oligarch class.

The top seven donors to Super PACs in the 2024 election reported giving more than $860 million, much of it in support of Trump, with some going to benefit other Republican candidates and right-leaning causes.

They include railroad magnate Timothy Mellon ($197 million); shipping magnates Richard & Elizabeth Uihlein ($139 million); Miriam Adelson, widow of Sheldon Adelson, the gambling magnate ($136 million); and Musk himself ($132 million).

So the question is this: Will we continue to be a government of the people, by the people, for the people or will we now become a country of the billionaires, by the billionaires, for the billionaires?

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