%20(1).gif)
Trump's billionaires set to take government by storm
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment