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A guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world.
Days after Donald Trump was last inaugurated as president in 2017, Google co-founder Sergey Brin took part in protests against the new administration’s immigration policies, arguing that the new administration’s immigration policies were “fundamentals” of the United States. He warned that it was a threat to “human values.”
On Monday, he joined more than a dozen billionaires in the front seats at President Trump’s second inauguration to deport millions of immigrants and use the levers of American justice to attack political opponents. He praised the person who vowed to pursue the United States and impose sweeping tariffs.
President Trump’s inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol highlighted the president’s deepening relationships with industry giants and a shift in the stance of business leaders who had previously despised him. Four of the world’s five richest people held more prominent positions than their own cabinet members, with some of their spouses holding seats at the expense of governors and members of Congress.
Elon Musk, a former supporter of Joe Biden who spent $255 million to help Trump win, was in a packed house, along with Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, which this month abolished fact-checking on social media platforms as a peace deal. They lined up on the podium. Trump and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whose editorial board stopped supporting Kamala Harris.
A few meters away were Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH luxury goods empire and Europe’s richest man, India’s Mukesh Ambani and Apple CEO Tim Cook. They, like other tech company chief executives, had donated $1 million to Trump ahead of the lawsuit. They join Cabinet nominees such as Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick and Treasury nominee Scott Bessent, who are themselves billionaires.
“This man is a power,” Lutnick said of President Trump in a speech Monday at Capital One Arena, where Trump’s supporters had gathered to watch the swearing-in ceremony.
Lutnick was followed by Musk, who received thunderous applause when he pledged to help Trump usher in a “golden age.”
The audience also cheered when the billionaire mentioned Trump’s promise to send astronauts to Mars, a sign of Musk’s growing power and influence. The move benefits Musk’s SpaceX and is seen as wasteful and unnecessary by scientists within the U.S. government.
This display of corporate power has been roundly criticized by some members of Mr. Trump’s core support group, MAGA. Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon this week slammed Musk and the tech giants around the president, echoing Biden in calling them an “oligarchy” and calling them “an oligarchy.” It was created by the Democratic Party and the rulers of easy money.”
Democrats were also quick to use the inauguration spectacle to undermine President Trump’s populist credentials, with the Democratic National Committee saying “Billionaires worth more than $1 trillion get front row seats” “In the meantime, the president has literally left his supporters in the cold.” He has always indicated that he intends to “put himself and his ultra-wealthy supporters above the American people.”
Inside Capitol One Arena, where Trump supporters gathered Monday to watch the inauguration ceremony moved indoors, the billionaire, seen by many Maga followers as a supplicant rather than a puppet master, was in attendance. was widely welcomed.
Minnesota farmer Cherry Fiedler said the tech billionaire’s fame means “all censorship goes away,” and Trump’s victory has prompted the world’s biggest companies to focus on diversity, equity and He predicted that inclusion policies would be abolished.
“Many of those business leaders used to be… opposed to President Trump,” added Paul Kirby, an accountant from Missouri who traveled to Washington for the ceremony. “All these leaders are basically bending the knee…[Trump is]He was in control and he got his power back. ”
