Oligarchy on parade: Trump vows to make "life good" for Musk in exchange for massive campaign donation

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Trump is not subtle about his corruption

Dean ObeidallahJul 21, 202477Share this postCopy linkFacebookEmailNoteOther23Share

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Say what you will about Donald Trump—and believe me I have—we can't accuse him of hiding his corruption. Trump has broadcasted to the oligarch class that if you make a huge donation to help him win in 2024, he will deliver the policies you want.

The latest example came Saturday when Trump at his rally in Michigan told his adoring fans, "I love Elon Musk…he endorsed me recently." Trump then told the crowd why he really "loves" Musk so dearly. Trump explained, "I read he gives me $45million a month." Trump was referring to a report in the Wall Street Journal last Monday that Musk was planning to donate around $45 million a month to a pro-Trump super political-action committee called America PAC.

Convicted felon Trump then contrasted Musk to low level donors, "Other guys give you two dollars and you got to take them to lunch." But that was not the case with Musk who is pledging in the area of $200 million to put Trump back in the White House. From there, Trump lavished praise on Musk, noting, "We have to make life good for our smart people, and he's as smart as you get."

To Trump, "smart people" are those who make massive donations to him. In exchange, the soulless Trump will ensure to "make life good" for them—meaning he will deliver policies that bring them wealth and more.

That may sound like some over the top simplification, but we know it's not thanks to some great reporting in May by The Washington Post. That's when the paper reported that Trump had gathered "some of the country's top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club" and there he told them point blank, if you make mass donations to my campaign, I will ensure that as President I will enact policies that make you even more money.

Trump reportedly told these oil tycoons, "You should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House" and in return, Trump "vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden's environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted." The corrupt Trump even told them, giving $1 billion would be a "deal," because of "the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him."

So no, I'm not in any way being hyperbolic when I write that Trump is openly selling policies to the wealthiest oligarchs in exchange for massive donations to return him to power. (Reminder: Trump has immunity for "official acts" thanks to his Supreme "Court.")

Indeed, we've already seen an example during this campaign of Trump reversing his past policy position to help a current wealthy backer. During Trump's final year as President, he advocated for a ban on TikTok given it's owned by a Chinese company. But during this campaign, Trump suddenly flip flopped on the issue even though a bipartisan contingent of House and Senate members came out in favor of TikTok ban. Why? Simple, one of Trump's wealthy backers, Jeffrey Yass--who is also a major donor to the conservative Club for Growth—owns 15% of TikTok and opposed the ban because he would lose money. As Politico reported in March, Trump changed "course when an interested billionaire donor was in the mix."

That sent a message to the oligarch class that if Trump wins, you can expect far more than just another tax cut that primarily helped the wealthy like he did in 2017. This explains why over the past month, some wealthy Republican titans who had vocally criticized Trump after Jan 6 and parted ways with him, are now backing him with huge sums of money.

To these wealthy business leaders, giving Trump a massive sum of money to super PACs supporting him is not a donation; it's an investment. They understand that like Vladimir Putin's oligarchs, they will be able to shape policy that enables them to make even more money—such as less regulations, allowing more mergers, etc. Again, Trump told the oil executives that to their face.

As billionaire Mark Cuban—a vocal Trump critic—put it in response to Musk and these other wealthy people now lining up for Trump, this is "The Virtue of Selfishness."

Some of Trump's billionaire backers, however, are also seeking to shape other policies that line up with their world view beyond just helping their bottom line. As the WSJ reported, some billionaires were making lavish donations to shape policy on issues they are deeply passionate about such as ensuring "support for Israel" and "opposition to diversity initiatives." (Interesting how some supporters of Trump and Netanyahu also oppose racial diversity.)

But for others it's just about acquiring more wealth such as Harold Hamm, an oil and gas magnate worth $18.5 billion who has contributed $614,000 to the Trump 47 Committee and $200,000 to the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC. As Hamm candidly told the Financial Times about his political views, "Republican, Democrat… I'm an oilocrat."

The worst part of this is that these massive donations are all legal thanks to that corrupt institution known as the GOP controlled US Supreme Court and their awful 2010 Citizen's United decision. In this 5 to 4 ruling written by the conservative justices, the court struck down century-old campaign finance restrictions and empowered corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections. As the Brennan Center for Justice noted, "perhaps the most significant outcomes of Citizens United have been the creation of super PACs, which empower the wealthiest donors, and the expansion of dark money through shadowy nonprofits that don't disclose their donors."

The most laughable part of Citizens United decision was the five GOP justices wrote that this new wave of "independent political spending" they were permitting did not present a real threat of corruption. In reality, Citizens United legalized political corruption. Trump simply removed the charade that candidates won't be moved by large contributions to their Super PACs.

The prospect of policy decisions being made by oligarchs in a board room that Trump simply rubber stamps as president is just one more reason why I view November 5 as more than Election Day. It's truly judgement day for our nation. Will we remain a democratic Republic or do we take one more step to becoming the North American version of Victor Orban's Hungary or even Putin's Russia?! Again, it's all up to us!

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