A President and His Billionaire Donors: How Trump's Oval Office Became a Slush Fund for the Oligarchy
The Trump administration has unleashed a new era of corporate welfare, as the president has systematically funneled public money to his billionaire allies. The result is a hollowed-out regulatory agency that prioritizes profits over people, and an enforcement mechanism that serves as a powerful tool for profit-making.
Since securing the Republican nomination, Trump's own fortune has nearly tripled, thanks to lucrative deals in cryptocurrency and licensing agreements that promise unprecedented opportunities for corruption and influence peddling. Fossil fuel billionaires, like Harold Hamm and Kelcy Warren, have made billions by investing in Trump's re-election campaign, only to see their companies reap massive returns on their investments through subsidies, tax breaks, and royalty giveaways.
Big tech giants are doing even better, with companies spending millions of dollars to curry favor with the president. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Jensen Huang, Sergei Brin, Larry Page, and Sam Altman have seen their combined net worth soar by $494 billion under Trump's deregulation policies, which have fueled an artificial intelligence boom that is poisoning communities and killing jobs.
The price of this corruption goes far beyond dollars and cents. It includes the destruction of faith in our government as oligarchs buy influence and access outright. Foreign governments, corporations, and billionaires are freely trading favors with the presidency, buying access to high-level officials and getting away with massive scandals and regulatory abuses.
Defunding the Oligarchy is no longer just a rallying cry – it must become a governing standard for accountability that cuts off the financial and political mechanisms sustaining corporate dominance. This means ending taxpayer subsidies and contracts for companies that exploit workers, pollute communities or bankroll political influence, and confronting monopoly power that allows billionaire-controlled firms to dominate entire sectors of the economy.
The choice before Democrats is clear: either continue to warn about oligarchy while leaving its power structures intact, or adopt an opposition rooted in anti-corruption, public investment and democratic accountability. By supporting legislation like the Defund the Oligarchy resolution, Congress can begin to restore trust and rebalance an economy that has been rigged against working people for decades.
The fight ahead will not be easy – oligarchs and authoritarians are betting that Americans will accept a system rigged against them. But we will prove them wrong. The path forward is not simply to criticize oligarchy, but to dismantle it. We must wield power in service of the people, not just resist Trump, but to deliver real change. It's time to defund the oligarchs, fund the people and restore democracy to those it was meant to serve.
The Trump administration has unleashed a new era of corporate welfare, as the president has systematically funneled public money to his billionaire allies. The result is a hollowed-out regulatory agency that prioritizes profits over people, and an enforcement mechanism that serves as a powerful tool for profit-making.
Since securing the Republican nomination, Trump's own fortune has nearly tripled, thanks to lucrative deals in cryptocurrency and licensing agreements that promise unprecedented opportunities for corruption and influence peddling. Fossil fuel billionaires, like Harold Hamm and Kelcy Warren, have made billions by investing in Trump's re-election campaign, only to see their companies reap massive returns on their investments through subsidies, tax breaks, and royalty giveaways.
Big tech giants are doing even better, with companies spending millions of dollars to curry favor with the president. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Jensen Huang, Sergei Brin, Larry Page, and Sam Altman have seen their combined net worth soar by $494 billion under Trump's deregulation policies, which have fueled an artificial intelligence boom that is poisoning communities and killing jobs.
The price of this corruption goes far beyond dollars and cents. It includes the destruction of faith in our government as oligarchs buy influence and access outright. Foreign governments, corporations, and billionaires are freely trading favors with the presidency, buying access to high-level officials and getting away with massive scandals and regulatory abuses.
Defunding the Oligarchy is no longer just a rallying cry – it must become a governing standard for accountability that cuts off the financial and political mechanisms sustaining corporate dominance. This means ending taxpayer subsidies and contracts for companies that exploit workers, pollute communities or bankroll political influence, and confronting monopoly power that allows billionaire-controlled firms to dominate entire sectors of the economy.
The choice before Democrats is clear: either continue to warn about oligarchy while leaving its power structures intact, or adopt an opposition rooted in anti-corruption, public investment and democratic accountability. By supporting legislation like the Defund the Oligarchy resolution, Congress can begin to restore trust and rebalance an economy that has been rigged against working people for decades.
The fight ahead will not be easy – oligarchs and authoritarians are betting that Americans will accept a system rigged against them. But we will prove them wrong. The path forward is not simply to criticize oligarchy, but to dismantle it. We must wield power in service of the people, not just resist Trump, but to deliver real change. It's time to defund the oligarchs, fund the people and restore democracy to those it was meant to serve.
. I mean, come on, you can't just cut off funding to everyone who's benefited from Trump's policies and expect them to magically change their ways. It's not that simple. And what about all the jobs created in those industries? You're gonna hurt innocent people for the sake of a political point 
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. I'm not saying it's okay that they're making deals with the president and getting favors, but maybe we should focus on creating a level playing field instead of just punishing the rich 
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. I think we need to find some middle ground here. We can't just defund the oligarchs and expect everything to magically work out. That's not how economics works 
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I get that Trump's whole thing is about "draining the swamp" and all that, but when it comes down to it, he's just created a whole new swamp – one that's filled with billionaires and CEOs who are basically writing their own rules. And what really worries me is that this isn't just about the money; it's about the lack of trust in our government. People are like, "what's going on? Why can't they just do what's right?" 
. As a parent, I want my kids to grow up in a country where everyone has an equal chance to succeed, not just those who are already super rich. It's like they're writing their own checks to themselves at the Oval Office! 
How can we trust them to make decisions that benefit everyone when they're so clearly in bed with big money interests? 
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. The fact that Trump is basically selling access to his administration to the highest bidder 
is just crazy. It's like he's created a slush fund for all these billionaires and big tech giants 
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. Do we want it run by a small group of billionaires who are more interested in lining their own pockets than serving the public interest? Or do we want an economy that's truly democratic and accountable to everyone? 
. It's time to take a stand and demand real change, not just some half-measures to appease the elite 
. this is super unfair because ppl are paying taxes but billionaires r getting richer through subsidies & tax breaks. we need to rebalance the pie so that public money slices get bigger 
. also, big tech giants are making huge profits from AI and doing nothing to stop its negative effects on communities 
. defunding oligarchy means giving power back to ppl & govts, not just rich corporations 
. we need to take action now & make sure that our system is rigged for ppl's benefit, not billionaires' 
. its not that hard to see how this all ties together - rich ppl get richer, gov't gets more money from them &...voilà! you've got an admin that's basically run by billionaires 
. We need to take back control and demand accountability from our leaders. It's not just about the money – it's about the values we want to uphold as a society. We should be investing in people, not profiteers 
. Let's get behind it and make some real change 
. Artificial intelligence is poisoning communities and killing jobs, but who cares? The only ones benefiting are the billionaires themselves 
. And it's not just about the money, it's about the influence and access they're getting 
. We need to start holding people in power accountable for their actions, especially when it comes to corporate welfare 
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. i mean trump's wealth almost tripled since he secured the nomination, that's insane. and it's not just trump, its these fossil fuel billionaires and big tech giants like zuckerberg who are getting away with everything. we need to take a stand and demand real change. its time to defund the oligarchy and fund the people 
. Trump's friends are basically getting a free pass to do whatever they want, and it's not just about the money - it's about the influence and access that comes with it 
. It's time for real change, not just lip service to anti-oligarchy rhetoric