The white elephant in the room. Why America’s richest are backing Trump

Figures like Musk and Thiel are hostile to progressivism and American democracy itself, which is why they support Trump, writes Robert Reich, a former U.S. Secretary of Labor and professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. Musk, for his part, has been sharply critical of “wokeism,” calling it a “threat to civilization.” According to Thiel, the concept of “capitalist democracy” is an oxymoron, and the existence of political rights for the poor — and women — complicates the efforts of self-described libertarians like him.

In addition to generous donations, billionaires like these can offer Trump something even more precious: the support of a broader electorate, such as the American segment of Musk's 200 million X subscribers. As a platform owner, Musk can manipulate its algorithm to show his posts to the maximum number of users. He is already putting up an average of seven posts a month criticizing Democrats and praising Trump.

The wealthy are holding special meetings where, according to reports, they are discussing how to get Trump back in the White House. In April, Musk and investor David Sacks held a secret dinner for billionaires and millionaires in Hollywood.

This does not mean that America’s business elite is fully united behind the former president. “You can't say that all business people like Trump. It's just that Thiel, Musk, and their entourage are very loud on Twitter,” Oleg Itzkhoki, an economics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, tells The Insider.

Cliff Asness, the billionaire co-founder and fund manager of AQR Capital Management, writes of Nikki Haley that “we could’ve had an articulate adult conservative who has governed very successfully and stood up to the worst of the world at the U.N. as the Republican nominee. But MAGA labeled her a ‘warmonger’ (total bull****, they just repeat their various leaders’ lying talking points) and stuck by their now fully disintegrating dear leader.”

Figures like Asness are far from alone. “I think it reflects the opinion of most business people,” Itzkhoki believes, pointing out that Kamala Harris also has quite a few billionaire supporters. For one, Netflix founder Reed Hastings, who was initially dubious about Harris, still donated $7 million to her campaign. Harris has also been endorsed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, along with Melinda French Gates and George and Alex Soros.

What Trump will really bring to the table

“Take a step back, be honest. [Trump] grew the economy quite well,” Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, the largest and most profitable bank in the U.S. and one of the most influential in the world, said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this past January.

Yet while corporate profits and the U.S. stock market indeed grew under Trump prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, such economic indicators do not necessarily represent the entire economy. For instance, even excluding the crisis year of 2020, Biden comes out slightly ahead in GDP growth, with an annual rate of about 2.9% against Trump's 2.7%. And the same holds true for job creation.

In June, 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists penned an open letter saying they were “deeply concerned about the risks of a second Trump administration for the U.S. economy.” The economists point to Trump's “fiscally irresponsible budgets” and cite studies by entities such as the Peterson Institute, Oxford Economics, and Allianz showing that Trump’s program, if successfully implemented, would lead to higher inflation. Rising inflation is already threatening the country, and the Republican candidate's intention to impose 10% import duties on all goods coming into the U.S. and 60% on goods from China would only exacerbate its effects.