OP-ED: The marriage of MAGA and billionaires is already rocky
An unexpected development in the 2024 election was the coalition of traditional MAGA voters and ultra-wealthy tech billionaires who joined hands to return Donald Trump to the White House. I will explore the genesis of this alliance and all the reasons that this marriage of visionary tech billionaires and populist Trump supporters cannot last for long.
According to a New York Times report in October, the billionaire financier Nelson Peltz summoned a group of 20 ultra-wealthy, donors to dinner at his $334 million waterfront estate in Florida last February, with Elon Musk among the invitees.
Peltz reportedly gave Musk the honor of speaking first. Musk told the group that he had always been a Democrat, but no longer. Despite being new to political campaigns, he had some ideas to share with the nation.
According to the Times, “Musk has always seen himself as the protagonist of his own science-fiction novel, on a hero’s quest to save humanity. He and his fellow tech leaders were not just businessmen; as they saw it, they were visionary founders reinventing the world. They knew what to do and how to do it.”
Shortly thereafter, Musk and 13 other billionaires became the financial core of the Trump election campaign. Musk alone donated over $132 million.
Last September, Trump gave a speech at the Economic Club of New York. He formally announced his support for a “government-efficiency commission” that would “conduct a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.” He proposed that Musk, despite having received billions of dollars in government contracts and subsidies for his ventures SpaceX and Tesla, should chair the effort. Soon, Trump was calling Musk his future “secretary of cost cutting.” This appointment struck many as a fox receiving large federal handouts guarding the treasury hen house.
What does “Make America Great Again” mean to tech billionaires? It represents extraordinary access to the White House in order to lobby for their business interests and to provide policy advice on their expensive visions. Moreover, space exploration, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and electric vehicles all require government regulatory support.
While the tech billionaires were deciding to support Trump for president, millions of average MAGA voters were ignoring the claims that Trump was a threat to democracy, a racist, a sexual abuser, a misogynist, a serial liar, and a convicted felon. Instead, they focused on Trump’s first White House term as a time of tax cuts, low inflation, no wars, and anti-immigration policies. Additionally, MAGA voters wanted an administration that would keep a lid on progressive social issues.
To the average Trump supporter, “Make America Great Again” means replacing progressive elites. They believe that Democrats support a “deep state,” controlled by unelected bureaucrats. Many Americans are scared, angry, and uncertain about the future. Post-election research conducted by the Manhattan Institute and others concluded that Trump’s campaign tapped into these concerns, central to working- and middle-class voters.
Since the election, the influence of tech billionaires in the new Trump administration has increased exponentially. Musk never left the president-elect’s side. He rented a cottage at Mar-a-Logo and embedded himself in the transition process. He has been allotted office space in the new administration. Furthermore, following the election, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg made business decisions and substantial financial contributions that pleased Trump.
In a stark display of money and power, Trump invited Musk, Bezos, and, Zuckerberg to his inauguration. They have a combined net worth of $1 trillion dollars. They sat next to Trump’s family. Few everyday Trump voters were invited into the Capitol for the ceremony.
What appears to be shaping up is an American oligarchy, where ultra-wealthy individuals have undue influence over the chief executive outside the formal political system. President Biden stated the problem well in his final speech to the nation. He said, “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
The irony is that in the past election, Trump campaigned against a Democratic political elite that embraced traditional, democratic institutions. He is now creating a new political elite of oligarchs that has no accountability to Congress or loyalty to his own MAGA movement.
Several issues are already starting to fray the alliance between the ultra-wealthy and other Trump defenders. First, many billionaires depend on globalism and the Chinese market to sell their products. Traditional MAGA supporters are against most international trade.
Second, Silicon Valley, the home of tech billionaires, is pushing to make it easier for skilled foreign workers to come into the U.S. on H-1B temporary visas. MAGA wants these jobs reserved for American science graduates.
Third, tech billionaires are visionaries who want to advance artificial intelligence, space travel, and medical research into cancer and aging. Their preference would be to greatly increase research budgets that further their goals. To fund these projects, they would cut social service programs that benefit the working class.
Former White House aide Steve Bannon has already declared war on Musk. While in Italy before the Inauguration, he vowed to have the tech billionaire kicked out of the White House. Clearly, an unpleasant divorce between billionaires and MAGA supporters is already underway.
Gary Stout is a Washington attorney.