Billionaires line up for Donald Trump’s inauguration

Open the White House Watch newsletter for free

Your guide to what the 2024 US elections mean for Washington and the world

Days after Donald Trump last took office in 2017, Google co-founder Sergey Brin joined a protest against the new administration’s immigration policies, warning that they threatened the “core values” of the United States.

On Monday, he joined more than a dozen billionaires in prime seats at Trump’s second inauguration, where he praised the man who has pledged to deport millions of immigrants, use the tools of American justice to pursue political opponents and impose sweeping tariffs.

Trump Opening ceremony His remarks at the US Capitol highlighted the president’s deepening relationships with industry giants and the changing attitudes of business leaders who once despised him. Four of the world’s five richest men were placed more prominently than members of his cabinet, with some of their spouses taking seats at the expense of governors and members of Congress.

Elon Muska former supporter of Joe Biden who spent a quarter of a billion dollars to get… Trump The president-elect was joined by Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who this month eliminated fact-checking on his social media platforms in a peace offering to Trump, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who suspended his newspaper’s editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris.

Meters away were Europe’s richest man Bernard Arnault, head of the luxury goods empire LVMH, India’s Mukesh Ambani, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, who, like other tech CEOs, donated $1 million to Trump in the run-up to the proceedings. They join Cabinet nominees who are billionaires in their own right, including Commerce Secretary pick Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Besent.

“The man is the power,” Lutnick said of Trump in a speech Monday at Capital One Arena, where the president’s supporters gathered to watch him be sworn in.

Lutnick was followed by Musk, who received thunderous applause when he promised to help Trump usher in a “golden age.”

In a sign of Musk’s growing power and influence, the public also welcomed the billionaire’s reference to Trump’s pledge to send astronauts to Mars — a move that would benefit Musk’s company SpaceX, which scientists within the US government saw as wasteful and unnecessary.

Some Trump members have criticized such displays of corporate power Basic support base “Maga”.. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, criticized Musk and the tech moguls in the president’s orbit this week, echoing Biden in calling them “oligarchy” and claiming they were “created by the Democratic Party and easy money tycoons.”

Democrats were also quick to use the spectacle at the inauguration to undermine Trump’s populist credentials, with the Democratic National Committee claiming that by “literally leaving his supporters out in the cold while trillion-dollar billionaires got a front-row seat” the president was showing he was setting himself up And his wealthy supporters always come before the American people.

Inside Capitol One on Monday, where Trump supporters gathered to watch the inauguration ceremony after it was wheeled inside, the presence of the billionaires — viewed by many MAGA followers as supplicants, not puppet masters — was largely welcome.

Sherri Fiedler, a farmer from Minnesota, said she hopes the rise of tech billionaires will mean “the disappearance of all forms of oversight,” and she expects diversity, equality and inclusion policies at the world’s largest companies will be scrapped in the wake of Trump’s win.

“A lot of these business leaders were . . . against Trump,” added Paul Kirby, an accountant from Missouri who traveled to Washington for the ceremony. “All of these leaders are basically kneeling. . . (Trump) is in control, he has regained power.”