Summary
Donald Trump is forming the wealthiest administration in U.S. history, collectively worth over $330 billion.
Billionaires like Elon Musk ($300B), Linda McMahon, and Vivek Ramaswamy are key appointees, alongside ultra-wealthy Cabinet members.
Musk and Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, pushing for deep public spending cuts.
The administration’s combined wealth far surpasses that of Joe Biden’s Cabinet and rivals the GDP of some nations.
Critics argue this contrasts with Trump’s populist messaging, while Senate confirmations could spotlight wealth disparities.
I heard a version of this sentiment in 2016. I was sitting near a well-dressed elderly couple at the regional airport. The woman was on her phone, explaining her support for Trump. I’ll paraphrase.
“He knows so many rich people! He’ll appoint them to the government, and they won’t steal from it because they’ve already got so much money they won’t want to.”
I disagree with that statement for so many reasons, but that’s what she expressed. This opinion was boggling enough at the time that it stuck with me almost ten years later.
Completely ignoring the question of “how did they get rich?”
Well, they made enough money to live out their lives extremely comfortably doing whatever they wanted, and the thing they chose to do with their life was to chase more money.
Probably a corollary of Worthington’s Law:
https://www.wordsense.eu/Worthington’s_law/