'When the 3 wealthiest men in America sit behind Trump at his inauguration, everyone understands that the billionaire class now controls our government.'
Silicon Valley’s influence was apparent at Donald Trump’s inauguration yesterday, as the three wealthiest men in the world – each with fortunes ranging from £200 to £400 billion – sat behind the President during the swearing-in ceremony.
At the event, tech billionaires, Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and X, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos were sat closer to the President than some members of his cabinet.
Apple head Tim Cook and Google chief Sundar Pichai were also sat close to the front.
Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders commented on the photo of the world’s three richest men at the inauguration in a post on X, stating: “When I started talking about Oligarchy, many people didn’t understand what I meant. Well, that’s changed.
“When the 3 wealthiest men in America sit behind Trump at his inauguration, everyone understands that the billionaire class now controls our government. We must fight back.”
In a bow to Trump ahead of his inauguration, Zuckerberg posted a video two weeks’ ago explaining that Meta would ditch independent fact-checking.
The Meta boss claimed there is “too much censorship” on its platforms due to “politically biased” fact-checkers.
Musk donated over $250 million to Trump’s campaign last year, making him the largest donor in the 2024 election cycle.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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