The stagecraft of Donald Trump’s inauguration that positioned international billionaire tech titans in entrance of his personal cupboard picks has come below speedy hearth from Trump critics as signal of oligarchy and the highly effective affect they wield.
Through the ceremony on the Capitol rotunda, tech leaders together with Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg; Apple’s CEO, Tim Prepare dinner; Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai; Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos; and Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, gathered collectively to represent the more and more shut relationship between the tech business and the brand new American president.
The business leaders have been initially supposed to take a seat on the dais – a place of honor the place Trump’s members of the family, former presidents and different high-profile visitors when the ceremony was nonetheless scheduled to be held exterior.
However with the frigid climate in Washington on Monday, the inauguration was moved contained in the Capitol, scrambling present seating preparations, and selling the tech leaders to positions subsequent to Trump members of the family and forward of cupboard nominees.
“Large Tech billionaires have a entrance row seat at Trump’s inauguration,” posted the Massachussetts senator Elisabeth Warren on X. “They’ve even higher seats than Trump’s personal cupboard picks. That claims all of it.”
TikTok’s chief govt, Shou Zi Chew, was anticipated to attend, in addition to Sam Altman of OpenAI and Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber. The New York Metropolis mayor, Eric Adams, podcaster Joe Rogan and Rupert Murdoch, chairman emeritus of Fox Company and CEO of Information Corp additionally attended – as did the Argentinian president Javier Milei – however in much less distinguished positions.
Among the many tech leaders was Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez. The Democratic media commentator Ron Filipkowski famous: “No congressional spouses have been allowed within the Rotunda for the ceremony in the present day. Completely different guidelines for the oligarchs.”
In feedback over the weekend, Steve Bannon, the previous Trump White Home chief strategist, described the tech titans gathering at Monday’s inauguration as “supplicants” to Donald Trump making “an official give up”, akin to the Japanese give up to allied forces on the deck of the USS Missouri in September 1945.
The feedback got here as former president Biden warned that “an oligarchy is taking form in America of maximum wealth, energy and affect that actually threatens our total democracy” and of “the harmful focus of energy within the arms of some ultra-wealthy folks”.
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