Translated material
Dangerous connections. How billionaires Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg stopped being afraid and fell in love with President Trump
Tomorrow, January 20, the inauguration of the elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, is due to take place in Washington. The excitement around this ceremony, traditionally held in the USA solemnly and magnificently, this time exceeded all limits. Almost the entire business elite of the country is going to visit it. “EVERYONE WANTS TO BECOME MY FRIENDS!!!” - the president-elect wrote on his own social network Truth Social.
Trump's return to the White House was supported by the richest Americans. Twenty-six of his biggest billionaire donors, who collectively own about $143 billion, contributed $162 million to his campaign. But the cash flow did not dry up with Trump's election victory. Now those who want to win the favor of the 47th President of the United States are donating money for his inauguration. Since Trump won the election in November, his allies have raised well over $200 million from multiple donors. This money will be used to organize his inauguration, to carry out political tasks, and also, possibly, to open a presidential library,” reports The New York Times , citing informed sources.
Unlike direct contributions to a presidential candidate's campaign, there are no restrictions on donating to the inaugural committee, and Trump has already won, so supporting him after the election carries no risks and is a great opportunity to curry favor with the new administration. According to NBC News , "While there's nothing new about corporations and power brokers pouring big money into inaugural committees, the Trump factor is changing the calculus. Now all this has escalated. None of these people want to be a whipping boy for four years. One of the oldest sayings in Washington is: “If you're not at the table, you're on the menu, and the price of a seat at the table is constantly rising.” So they throw money at his feet to curry favor.”
In 2017, Trump's inaugural committee raised nearly $107 million, the highest in U.S. history at the time. Trump's second inauguration has every chance of breaking this record. Meanwhile, inaugural events in 2017 were smaller than Obama's in 2009, although Trump raised twice as much money for them as Obama ($53 million). However, years later, it is still unclear what happened to most of the money that was supposed to remain with the Trump committee after paying for balls and hotels. According to federal documents, about a quarter of all funds raised ($26 million) were paid to a newly created firm run by an adviser to first lady Melania Trump, Public Citizen's Craig Holman told NBC News. And he added: “This is a real cesspool for the purchase of services.”
The strong outpouring of donations for Trump's second inauguration is partly due to the participation of leaders from tech giants who had not previously supported Trump. Thus, the three richest people in the world - Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos (according to Bloomberg, their combined net worth was $885 billion) - recently openly clashed with Trump, and now they are Donald's best friends, and each of them donated for his friend's inauguration, each donated $1 million. Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai also donated $1 million each to the inauguration fund to show their support for Trump.
Billionaires follow the strongest
It is symbolic that on January 20, when the 47th President of the United States is sworn in in Washington, the World Economic Forum starts in Davos, Switzerland, where billionaires from the United States usually gather to show off their achievements.
This year, Davos was eclipsed by the inauguration of Donald Trump, and economic summit regulars from the United States are choosing to skip it in favor of Trump's celebration.
“I don’t know anyone who will go to Davos,” a person close to the new president’s administration told the New York Post . “This is a bad time for Davos. If you're a business executive, you're better off spending your time at receptions meeting with people who will shape policy in the United States, where you talk about business and trade, as well as the impact of these events on other countries, added another newspaper source close to Trump . “The election showed that the Davos way of thinking about the world is dead... there is a return to populism on trade, immigration, economics and security policy.”
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