When Donald Trump became President of the United States again, many of the richest people from all over the world were there to celebrate. Among them were Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, who together have almost $900 billion! Some think their presence shows that Trump will favor his wealthy friends in his policies, especially after he tried to change the results of the 2020 election.
Outgoing President Joe Biden warned that this could lead to a powerful group of rich people affecting democracy. Senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out that these tech leaders got special seats at the inauguration, right in front of Trump’s new Cabinet members.
Elon Musk, who has given a lot of money to Trump’s campaign, has a strong position in the new government. He’s been asked to lead a team that will help reduce government spending, and he will likely push for faster rules for self-driving cars. There are also questions about how the government will treat Musk and his companies now that Trump is in charge.
Many business leaders, like Mark Zuckerberg, quickly tried to get close to Trump after he won over Vice President Kamala Harris. Zuckerberg even paused fact-checking on Meta’s U.S. platform. He sat with Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at a special lunch for the inauguration, and he hosted a party before the big day with other wealthy donors.
Other billionaires like Bernard Arnault and Mukesh Ambani also attended. Just before Trump took office, lawmakers voted to ban the app TikTok, but Trump invited TikTok’s CEO to the inauguration. He even suggested that the U.S. government could partly own TikTok. There were rumors that Musk might become involved with TikTok as well.
David Kass from Americans for Tax Fairness noted the clear influence of the world’s richest people on Trump’s first day back in office.
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