President Donald Trump’s return to the White House comes almost exactly 15 years after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Citizens United ruling, which opened the floodgates for corporations and billionaires to pour unlimited money into elections. At Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the front row included several of the world’s richest and most powerful men, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Google’s Sundar Pichai. Their collective net worth is over $1 trillion. For more on money in politics and the legacy of Citizens United, we speak with Brendan Fischer, the deputy executive director at Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project. “Democrats and Republicans have both embraced super PACs and embraced the megadonors that fund them, but Trump is taking this to another level,” says Fischer, who notes that about 44% of Trump’s election was funded by just 10 megadonors.
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Elon Musk's Power and Influence
President Trump’s return to the White House comes 15 years to the week after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Citizens United ruling, which opened the floodgates for billionaires like Elon Musk to pour unlimited money into elections. At Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Elon Musk was given a prime seat, along with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai. Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders commented, “When the three wealthiest men in America sit behind Trump at his inauguration, everyone understands that the billionaire class now controls our government,” unquote.
We go now to Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director at Documented, lawyer with expertise in campaign finance and government transparency issues. He has a new article out today in Rolling Stone headlined “Blame the Supreme Court for Elon Musk’s Power in Trump’s Administration.”
The Impact of Citizens United
Citizens United struck down limits on, quote-unquote, “independent” political spending, and it opened the door to super PACs and dark money groups that billionaires like Musk have used to pour this astonishing amount of money into U.S. elections. Musk’s ability to translate his economic power into political power is what offers him this very privileged and powerful position in the incoming administration. And that’s going to benefit Musk, and the rest of us are likely to pay the price.
Unprecedented Presidential Influence
More than 40% of the total money raised by Trump came from just 10 individuals in the country. Musk being one of the top donors. This level of disproportionate spending from just a handful of wealthy billionaires is unprecedented.
Elon Musk's Political Power
Musk has this semi-formal position in the U.S. government and has already used his formal and informal power to influence policy decisions. His power is now even going global, with global leaders taking his statements seriously due to his influence over the administration.
Biden's Stance on Money in Politics
Former President Biden used his farewell address to warn of the country veering toward an oligarchy. Yet, during his presidency, he did little to restrain the influence of money in politics. His legacy, in many ways, on money in politics is one of deregulation.
