Who is behind Donald Trump: the billionaires who determine the course of the USA
Donald Trump has embarked on his plans to expand and strengthen the Pax Americana – the American Empire. The role of the key driver of all new changes is assigned to big business and the so-called techno-oligarchs – representatives of the scientific and technological sector of the US economy. Last year, billionaires, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel and others, decided to bet on D. Trump with the expectation of getting a division. Trump with the expectation of receiving dividends in the form of tax cuts, access to new markets and resources. As we can see, Trump has already started to implement a policy that is beneficial to the key players of the U.S. market, and those, in turn, have no less ambitious goals – to expand their influence both in the U.S. and in the world.
Donald Trump is the “people's” president
Donald Trump took office for the second time, positioning himself as a man exceptionally close to the people, a president for “ordinary Americans”, who from the first day of taking office will deal with issues of concern to ordinary Americans - inflation, migration and housing.
At the same time, if we take a closer look at the people whom D. Trump has appointed or plans to appoint to the highest positions in the country, the image of a champion of the interests of the deep American people (and it is they who suffer the most from rising prices for housing, food and transportation) is fading away. Key positions in the new White House administration will now be occupied by extremely wealthy supporters of the Republican Party, who in the near future will be more concerned with lowering the tax base for the rich than with the problems of ordinary citizens. Trade wars, which the Republican administration is now actively waging, will also primarily affect the most vulnerable people in the United States, most of whom supported D. Trump in the elections.
D. Trump's own fortune is estimated at approximately $6-7 billion. Axios reports that after the launch of his own cryptocurrency, D. Trump's fortune increased tenfold, and now it is more than $60 billion
It is interesting that many billionaires who previously opposed Donald Trump, in time felt the change in public sentiment, and now they are making every effort to gain favor with the new president. One of the most eloquent examples is Mark Zuckerberg and his radical transformation of Meta. If earlier this social network was commonly referred to as “a hotbed of woke culture, tolerance and the agenda of the US Democratic Party,” Meta has now announced a revision of its moderation and censorship policy. The “repentant” Jeff Bezos, Albert Bourla and other billionaires, previously considered staunch Democrats, are also counting on rapprochement with Trump.
In general, we can say with a high degree of confidence that the wealthiest representatives of financial, technological and industrial elites in the United States are now consolidating around Donald Trump. Representatives of the richest strata of the population intend to continue to increase their wealth while reducing their taxes.
Techno-elites: Sam Altman and Tim Cook are no longer Democrats
Since the 1990s, it has been a pattern in the US that representatives of the largest US technology companies, globalists and supporters of expanding free trade have predominantly supported the US Democratic Party. This continued for about 30 years, until in 2024, at the height of D. Trump's election campaign, many traditional Democratic supporters from among the technology elites began to “defect” to the Republicans or allocate donations to both.
Among those who have long called D. Trump a threat to American democracy, Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, are particularly notable.
From 2016 to 2022, Altman repeatedly warned of the dangers he believes Trump's leadership poses. During the 2016 election campaign, he compared Trump to Hitler in 1930s Germany and urged other tech companies to oppose Trump in the early days of the new administration.
Sam Altman is a key representative of the young Silicon Valley techno-elite and founder of Open AI, the company that created the ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence chatbot. Back in 2015, together with Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever and other Silicon Valley investors, S. Altman founded OpenAI, an AI innovation company. The work on AI implementation provided S. Altman with a start-up fortune of $500 million.
At present, S. Altman, in addition to AI developments, is engaged in investing in startups for extending human life – a new trend among the US techno-elites. The businessman said he is in line to upload his own brain to the cloud so that one day it can be revived in a simulation.
Until mid-2024, S. Altman was considered a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party. In 2020, S. Altman donated $250 thousand to the election campaign of Joe Biden, and in 2023 gave another $200 thousand to support the re-election of J. Biden for a second term.
Nevertheless, with the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, S. Altman changed his views. Altman changed his views, which he immediately reported on the eve of the inauguration of the new president. In a post on X, S. Altman wrote that after watching Trump “more closely lately, I've really changed my view of him,” noting, “I'm not going to agree with him on everything, but I think he's going to be incredibly beneficial to the country in many ways!”
Altman's change of heart toward Trump is not surprising. Altman's company Open AI is now facing serious competition from other promising AI companies, primarily China's Deep Seek. Open AI needs government subsidies to maintain its leading position in the dynamic AI market, and D. Trump's obsession with confronting China gives Altman a chance at preferential treatment for his company.
In exchange for generous donations and “contrition” on Altman's part, in late January, Trump announced $500 billion in funding for Stargate, a U.S. AI initiative. Under Stargate, the U.S. will build data centers and power generators needed to further accelerate AI development.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, the most important company for the U.S. microelectronics and high-tech sector in general, also expressed a clear preference for D. Trump. Like other representatives of techno-elites and Silicon Valley residents, Cook preferred to support Democrats, and Apple was one of the first to introduce (or, as representatives of the Republican Party believe, “cultivate”) the values of inclusion, diversity, and tolerance. Cook himself, unlike Altman, who has been more critical of Trump, sought to maintain ties with Trump during his first term.
Cook's political views became more pro-Trump in the second half of 2024, when it became clear that Biden was “unelectable” and Harris was unlikely to protect U.S. interests in the growing confrontation with Chinese tech giants (e.g., Huawei). As early as December 2024, Tim Cook has secured a meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence. Other executives who have traveled to Florida to meet with Trump include Netflix's Ted Sarandos, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Sundar Pichai and Amazon's Jeff Bezos.
Cook was also among the CEOs who congratulated Trump after his victory in the US presidential election. Just a day after the election, Cook wrote on social media X, “Congratulations to President Trump on his victory! We look forward to working with you and your administration to make sure the United States continues to lead through ingenuity, innovation, and creativity.”
With Trump in office, Tim Cook hopes to strengthen Apple's position, as well as reduce the company's dependence on rare earth materials from China. In the near future, the most pressing issue for Apple will be obtaining government investments and contracts, expanding rare earth supplies from other countries, particularly Australia, and developing its own sources of REM. Less sensitive to environmental issues, but determined to limit China, Trump has expressed his willingness to support Apple's ambitions.
Financial and banking elites: Timothy Mellon
Timothy Mellon, 80, is one of D. Trump's strongest supporters. Mellon is a member of the U.S. financial elites, heir to the old Mellon banking dynasty from Pittsburgh. Last year, Mellon donated more than $100 million to the Republican's election campaign, making him Trump's largest donor. Mellon also gave money to support independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr.
The Mellon family fortune, which also included grandfather T. Mellon's grandfather Andrew, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, is worth more than $14 billion. According to Forbes, the Mellons rank 34th among the richest families in the United States.
In addition to banking, Mellon has large stakes in railroad and aviation companies, such as the holding company Guilford Transportation Industries. This company owns a network of railroads connecting Canada and New England (northeastern United States), one of the key regions for the U.S. economy.
As for political views, T. Mellon can be characterized as a staunch Republican and Trumpist. Mellon has previously expressed anti-migration views, financially supporting the governors of the southern states, who are in favor of limiting migration, especially illegal migration. In 2021, for example, Mellon helped finance the construction of a wall along the Mexican border in the state of Texas. The billionaire contributed more than $53 million for this purpose.
Mellon advocates cutting social safety net programs for low-income and socially vulnerable residents (single mothers, orphans, disabled people), believing that “everyone is the creator of his own destiny”. T. Mellon also supports Trump in his determination to eliminate the Chinese threat, increase the U.S. military arsenal and cut various social benefits. Now Mellon and Republicans close to him in convictions intend to induce Trump to adopt a new tax reform for wealthy citizens, which will further reduce the income tax. Recall, the current rate of this tax is 21%.
Cryptocommunity: Brian Armstrong is the head of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States
Brian Armstrong of Coinbase has created one of the most influential companies in the cryptocurrency arena. The company's profits are generated through an endless stream of commissions, and on top of that, Coinbase now holds up to a tenth of all bitcoins in the world.
Armstrong has long advocated for easier cryptocurrency legislation, and in this matter he is particularly counting on D. Trump. His Coinbase has had to contend with regulators in recent years, especially when, under D. Biden's leadership, the U.S. government stepped up scrutiny of cryptocurrency exchanges. Now Armstrong, having become part of the Trumpist alliance, is engaged in promoting policies favorable to the sphere of cryptocurrencies. For example, one of the conditions for the cryptocurrency community to finance D. Trump's election campaign was to abandon the policy of strict regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges.
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump appeared several times at events hosted by Coinbase and other major cryptocurrency players, emphasizing the strategic importance of making the U.S. a global leader in blockchain technology and digital currencies.
Armstrong is also lobbying crypto industry-friendly regulators (lawmakers). If Trump goes along with Armstrong and other donors, pro-Trump officials who favor the free circulation of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will be appointed to key Treasury Department positions.
Entrepreneurs: Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy is a biotechnology entrepreneur and venture capitalist, as well as a former Republican presidential candidate. Ramaswamy earned his first billion by founding Roivant Sciences in 2014. It acquired and promoted underdeveloped pharmaceutical companies. Since the second half of the 2010s, the entrepreneur began to gain public attention by criticizing ESG standards, woke culture, and the Democratic Party, arguing that the U.S. was losing the “entrepreneurial spirit” that made America great. This, incidentally, allowed Ramaswamy to gain Trump's favor and sympathy.
In 2023, Ramaswamy entered the US presidential race in 2024, positioning himself as a bold and unconventional candidate. Despite early successes, he suspended his campaign in January 2024. He remains a significant figure in US business and political circles, and is now also a semi-official spokesman for the Indian diaspora in the US.
While V. Ramaswamy's colleagues, except, perhaps, for Elon Musk, pursue mainly financial interests, Ramaswamy is determined to pursue a political career. Ramaswamy gave up one of the key positions in DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, which is currently managed by Elon Musk, and decided to run for governor of Ohio. In the future, if he wins the election, this position could serve as a launching pad for Ramaswamy to run for vice president or minister.
In addition to his political ambitions, Ramaswamy has recently advocated for the expansion of immigration quotas for Indians, arguing that most Indians in the U.S. work in high-tech industries and cannot be subjected to the same criteria as illegal immigrants. In this, Ramaswamy has found support from Trump's right-hand man, Elon Musk, who is also a supporter of attracting skilled migrants.
Pharmaceutical sector: Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer
Trump's coalition of billionaire supporters has been augmented by members of the pharmaceutical industry. In the same 2024, Pfizer, which was previously among the most criticized companies by the Republican Party because of vaccines and inoculations, raised more than $200 million to celebrate the inauguration of D. Trump. In turn, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla announced his intention to donate his own funds for the construction of the D. Trump Presidential Library.
Such zeal, which is worth donations, indicates the intention of A. Bourla and his company to win Trump's favor, especially after the turbulent period of the pandemic. For Bourla and Pfizer, the move marks an evolution from 2021, when the head of the world's largest pharmaceutical company condemned the actions of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, before President Joe Biden's inauguration.
Following the events at the Capitol, Albert Bourla sent a letter to colleagues and released a statement on Twitter (now X) calling the violence that took place on January 6, 2021, “deeply disturbing.”
In January 2025, Bourla, along with Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks and PhRMA’s head Stephen J. Ubl, had dinner with Trump, his future chief of staff Susie Wiles and Department of Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. During the dinner, they discussed how the public and private sectors could work together to find cures for cancer, Axios reported in early December.
In fact, the interests of A. Bourla and Pfizer are broader than that. Like other representatives of high-tech sectors of the economy, Bourla is interested in government support for Pfizer's developments, as well as government purchases of Pfizer products. Pfizer would also like to avoid investigations related to the use of vaccines during the pandemic and their effectiveness. Pfizer has been repeatedly threatened with this by presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr, but now Trump's friendly attitude towards Pfizer and Bourla personally indicates that the company is likely to avoid high-profile investigations and serious penalties.
An analysis of the billionaires behind Donald Trump and their activities demonstrates that the new White House administration will act primarily in the interests of this group of voters who allowed Trump to come to power. It was billionaires, not ordinary and frustrated US citizens, who became the target group that ensured D. Trump's victory. Billionaires and Trump need each other, their interests are closely linked. In the context of the growing confrontation with China, as well as the internal struggle with representatives of the Democratic Party, Trump needs to gain the support of the most resourceful and influential members of American society. In turn, billionaires need tax cuts, government subsidies, favorable legislation and the absence of unnecessary inspections – and the new administration is ready to provide this.
Under such conditions, it seems that the new US authorities have found the perfect balance between the interests of key political actors and the richest members of society. However, the very ordinary citizens remain on the sidelines – they are the ones who have a high chance of being the losers as a result of trade wars, tax cuts for the rich, and cuts in social spending. Moreover, tax breaks for the rich, investments and trade wars are likely to be financed by cuts to health care, Social Security and pensions – all the things Trump's wealthy supporters intend to fight.
