As Biden warns of an ’oligarchy,’ Trump will be flanked by tech billionaires at his inauguration
The Hindu
President Biden's warning about tech billionaires influencing U.S. politics is exemplified at Trump's inauguration with the world's richest men.
President Joe Biden's warning about the U.S. becoming an “oligarchy” of tech billionaires will be illustrated at Donald Trump's inauguration when the world's three richest men will sit on the dais as Mr. Trump is sworn in for a second term.
Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest person, took an unprecedented, hands-on role in the final stretch of Mr. Trump's campaign, spending some $200 million through a super PAC. Mr. Musk has a new role in reshaping government in the upcoming administration and will be joined on the dais by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Both men's companies have enormous contracts with the federal government.
Rounding out the trio is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who recently changed his company’s priorities to align with Trump’s and has cozied up to the President-elect less than six months after Mr. Trump threatened to imprison him.
The three men are worth nearly $1 trillion combined and will be joined at the inauguration by the chief executive officers of OpenAI and the social media platform TikTok, which is scheduled to be shut down in the U.S. over the weekend under a new law that Mr. Trump opposes.
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Meta, Amazon and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inauguration fund.
The mega-rich have long had a prominent role in national politics, and several billionaires helped bankroll the campaign of Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Mr. Biden recently gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros, a billionaire donor to liberal causes.
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