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THE MOST BILLIONAIRES EVER  
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Robert Tait
December 6, 2024
Guardian
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_ The president-elect is tapping mega-rich backers for positions that
will give them power to cut spending on public services. The gulf
between Trump’s taste for the wealthy and his populist everyman
rhetoric has not gone unnoticed. _

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Enough billionaires and multimillionaires have been assembled
by Donald Trump [[link removed]] to
fill key roles in his nascent administration
[[link removed]] to form a
soccer team.

In a recruitment process that appears to mock his campaign’s appeal
to working-class voters, the president-elect has brazenly tapped a
gallery of mega-rich backers for key positions that, in some
instances, will give them power to cut spending on public services
that are used by the most poor and vulnerable.

At least 11 picks for strategic positions after Trump returns to the
White House in January have either achieved billionaire status
themselves, have billionaire spouses or are within touching distance
of that threshold.

The net result will be the wealthiest administration in US history –
worth a total of $340bn at the start of this week, before Trump
further boosted its monetary value by trying to appoint at least three
more billionaires.

Its collective wealth easily outstrips that of Trump’s first
cabinet, formed after his 2016 election victory – which at the time
was the richest US cabinet ever formed, containing such super-rich
members as Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil,
who was appointed secretary of state, and Wilbur Ross, the commerce
secretary, who had become wealthy through restructuring bankrupt
companies.

Trump’s cabinet and White House picks – so far
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It also throws into stark relief the relative impoverishment of the
current cabinet of Joe Biden – collectively worth a relatively
paltry $118m
[[link removed]] despite
having been repeatedly derided by Trump as representative of a corrupt
governing elite that was cheating ordinary working Americans.

The wealthiest – and most prominent – of Trump’s 2024 class
is Elon Musk [[link removed]], the
Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur who is the world’s richest man.

Along with Vivek Ramaswamy
[[link removed]], another tech
entrepreneur who is said to be worth at least $1bn, Musk has been
tapped to spearhead a newly created department of government
efficiency, already known by its acronym Doge, whose mission is to cut
waste from public spending.

The conspicuously extravagant Musk has pledged to cut $2tn from the
national budget. He has not explained how or over what period,
although he has warned that it may entail “temporary economic
hardships
[[link removed]]”.

Neither Musk nor Ramaswamy will need Senate confirmation, since Doge
is not an official government department or agency.

However, Trump has not shied away from nominating billionaire cabinet
members who will have to undergo public Senate hearings at which their
wealth may become an issue.

These include Linda McMahon, the nominee for education secretary –
and a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive – whose
husband, Vince McMahon, is worth an estimated $3bn; the North Dakota
governor and former businessman Doug Burgum, designated to be
secretary of the interior; Howard Lutnick, the chair and chief
executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, who has been nominated as commerce
secretary; and Scott Bessent, a hedge-fund manager and former partner
at Soros Investment Management, who has been nominated as treasury
secretary.

Their collective worth alone amounts to $10.7bn – $4.5bn more than
Trump’s first cabinet.

Others subject to Senate confirmation are Charles Kushner – a
property tycoon and father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner –
the prospective ambassador to Paris; Warren Stephens, head of an
investment bank and chosen as ambassador to London; Jared Isaacman, a
commercial astronaut and entrepreneur who has been nominated to head
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa); and Kelly
Loeffler, a former GOP senator and joint head of Trump’s inaugural
committee, now his choice to head the Small Business Administration.

All fall under the billionaire bracket either individually or through
marital or family links, according to Forbes.

So, too, does Steve Witkoff, another property tycoon and golfing
partner of Trump, who has chosen him as his Middle East envoy.
Witkoff’s net worth has been estimated at $1bn.

Then there is Frank Bisignano, nominated as head of the Social
Security Administration, where he would be responsible for managing
the pensions and benefits of the country’s retirees. The president
of Fiserv Inc, a Wisconsin-based financial technology firm, his
current wealth is estimated at around $974m.

The president-elect has reportedly offered
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deputy defence secretary slot to yet another billionaire, Stephen
Feinberg, a private equity investor and co-chair of Cerberus Capital
Management, whose personal worth as of July this year was assessed at
$4.8bn. It is not known whether Feinberg has accepted.

The gulf between Trump’s taste for the wealthy and his populist
everyman rhetoric has not gone unnoticed.

Analysts have long noted the ability of a politician who proudly
flaunts his own self-proclaimed billionaire status to tap into popular
resentment over stagnating incomes and living standards –
accentuated by his laments over the loss of industrial jobs and trade
deals that he says have harmed American workers.

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
[[link removed]], working-class
Americans’ real wages have stagnated or declined since the early
1980s, especially as industries moved jobs overseas,” wrote Matthew
King [[link removed]], a
fellow at the German Marshall Fund, in a blog post. “This may help
explain Trump’s working class appeal.”

Trump, King argued, could exploit working-class anxieties because he
“knew that pride in God, family, and country would resonate in a way
that the progressive messages of other candidates didn’t”.

David Kass, the executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, said
the goal of what he called Trump’s “government by the billionaires
for the billionaires” was huge tax cuts for the super-rich, which
would be achieved at the cost of slashing services such as education,
social security and Medicaid, which provides healthcare for those with
lower incomes.

“Voters wanted a change,” Kass said. “I think what’s going to
happen is that people will say, that’s not actually what I wanted.
The rich are rich enough and don’t need more tax cuts. How about
helping me? I think there’s going to be a huge mobilisation against
this [tax cut].”

But King warned that Trump’s emotional resonance may override envy
of the rich.

“I still believe that Trump’s working-class appeal will continue
to enable him to exploit the working class successfully while
funnelling the rewards to the new oligarchy: big businesses and
billionaires like Elon Musk
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_Robert Tait [[link removed]] is a
journalist based in Washington DC. He was previously the Guardian's
correspondent in Czech Republic, Iran and Turkey._

_The Guardian [[link removed]] is globally renowned
for its coverage of politics, the environment, science, social
justice, sport and culture. Scroll less and understand more about the
subjects you care about with the Guardian's brilliant email
newsletters
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free to your inbox._

* Money in Politics
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* Billionaires
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* Donald Trump
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* Elon Musk
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