One of the few things of which we were supposed to be certain was that Donald Trump was a populist, elected to stick a middle finger to the “elite” and go about the business of governing on behalf of his red-hat wearing voters. But as one surveys the seating for the inauguration, it appears that Trump’s heart now lays with the biggest of the big, the billionaires club, that club which has become the exclusive engine driving American politics; Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, these aren’t your neighbors, nor the guy your neighbors voted in as president. So what are they doing there? It is a question that  CNN’s Bakari Sellers tried to answer on Thursday and he didn’t mince words.
Only a week ago, I wrote about Mark Cuban’s belief that the billionaires’ club that has become the Trump White House was all about the next stage in the pursuit of Artificial Intelligence and nothing in the interim has mollified that observation. As Sellers pointed out:
“When you when you look at just the imagery, I mean, let’s go to inauguration, for example. You’re going to have Elon Musk, you’re going to have Jeff Bezos, you’re going to have Mark Zuckerberg, and now you actually have the CEO of TikTok sitting in the dais, the non-elected officials who have their finger on the pulse and can pull kind of the strings of the president of the United States. It should send shivers up your spine, and the reason being is because the Bill Ackmans of the world, the Marc Andreessen, who now is apparently a new [human resources] director for the Trump White House, the Jeff Bezos, who is stripping the Washington Post for parts, the Elon Musk, who would prefer the United States resemble South Africa than anything else, and then you have people like Mark Zuckerberg, who is just trying to preserve Facebook from 230 lawsuits, uh, antitrust lawsuits, et cetera.”
No, Sellers didn’t mention AI – but then again, few know the underlying issues like Mark Cuban, even fewer know the impending future including the questions arising regarding which of the above may or may not have the inside track for licensing AI, or even continued research. They do, however, know that whoever gets there first with “General AI” likely also gets there middle and last – the new “Google” except this one coming with many more patents. Sellers went on to say:
“These people are there for their own self-interest, and what happens to the individuals who are affected in Middle America? What happens to Black folk and poor rural America? What happens to these people, Hispanic voters who don’t, who have the uncertainty of immigration laws coming in, and what happened to grocery prices, and so when you begin to look at what’s affecting everyday common people, I can guarantee you that the Ackmans, the Andreessens, the Zuckerbergs, the Bezos, the TikTok CEOs, the Musks, they don’t have your best interest at heart.”
No they do not have your best interests at heart – the uber rich have never had your best interests at heart. But one of the few things that most voters thought when they did think of Donald Trump was how much he hated the elite, the super-wealthy – only to now see this. It is enough to make one wonder whether any of the long loyal Trump-supporters have buyers remorse. Did they really think that Mark Zuckerberg would be their new best red-friend? Does anyone want Zuck for a friend? Ironically, Donald Trump is the single last person on earth in need of a new friend and yet he is somehow entertaining Zuck and can’t get enough of the others, perhaps playing them off each other. (If that is the case, then maybe it’s not so bad. Sell tickets, watch them make the case as to who should be thrown off the island with a big White House Seal of “You’re Fired!” as the season-ender.)
Do most Americans care about the development of AI? No – of course not, not until it happens, at least. The only certainty is that one of those guys will have their wealth quadrupled if and when they secure the new rights to the development of the next great everything – which will all come about through artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, we all do need to fear what happens if AI goes wrong – something that the uber-wealthy fear far less than those of us disinterested in being blackmailed into paying triple for the next promising cancer drug, net service, home security system, or even the U.S. mail (Think about how much Bezos would give to take the USPS private?)
It is kind of hard to believe that Donald Trump wants to go there with these people. It was only through the establishment’s opposition that Trump-supporters swooned in the first place. They like him precisely because he infuriated pretty well everyone else without rhyme, reason, or apology. Now, however – the establishment can’t get close enough to Trump. What kind of billionaire are you if you’re sitting at home, munching on a chilidog, watching the inauguration address and all those jackasses, anyway? You’re not the kind with exclusive access, that’s what kind.
Hey, “exclusive access” might actually explain why Donald Trump is looking for new friends. He is, after all – a billionaire himself. Is it possible that he has his sights on some new money? There are precious few other explanations. Strange, though – it’s not like he needs a bigger house, or even more time to golf. We know what they want. And they damn sure don’t want Cuban around talking about it, either.
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on X – @JasonMiciak and now on Bluesky.Â
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This goddamn country full of half educated morons won’t learn a damn thing. After all, they watched this trust fund baby shit on everyone and everything for NINE PHUCKING YEARS!!!! Then asked for more. I wonder if any teenage virgin would stroll into a Hell’s Angel hangout, announce they’re a virgin, and then expect to walk out unscathed. We’re that stupid teenager and we’re going to get what we asked for…the rich are going to run a train on us. That much is certain.