U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is greeting Elon Musk before attending the 6th test flight observation ceremony of the SpaceX Starship rocket held in Brownsville, Texas, U.S. on November 19, 2024.
Brandon Bell | via Reuters
Donald Trump’s first administration was filled with ultra-wealthy men with a combined fortune of more than $5 billion, representing an unprecedented combination of money and executive power.
A second Trump term could make that whole thing seem like dumb change.
More than six of the Republican president-elects are either confirmed billionaires or are widely assumed to be billionaires. Many others are millionaires or millionaires.
The richest person by far is Elon Musk, whom Trump appointed to co-lead a custom advisory group tasked with reducing government waste.
CEO Musk tesla SpaceX is the richest person in the world, with his net worth estimated at over $346 billion, up to $362 billion.
Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and former presidential candidate who works with Musk in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, is worth $1 billion, according to Forbes.
Last month, the nonprofit Americans for Tax Fairness estimated the average net worth of Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and his top appointees to be $616 million.
For comparison, Forbes estimates the total net worth of President Joe Biden’s entire cabinet at $118 million. And the tax group’s analysis is likely a low estimate because it came out before Trump announced many other wealthy candidates.
Last week, he appointed billionaire financial services CEO Warren Stevens as ambassador to the United Kingdom, billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg as deputy secretary of defense, and venture capitalist David Sacks as cryptocurrency czar.
President Trump also nominated former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was considered the wealthiest person on Capitol Hill during his time in office, to head the Small Business Administration.
On the same day, he elected billionaire CEO Jared Isaacman to head NASA.
Last weekend, he chose Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to be the U.S. ambassador to France.
The newcomers join other ultra-wealthy Cabinet members, including billionaire Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary, WWE co-founder Linda McMahon as Education Secretary and Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.
President Trump also nominated billionaire Massad Boulos, father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, as his top Middle East adviser.
And Trump chose Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. As of 2022, Oz would be worth $300 million, according to a New York Times analysis of financial disclosures he filed in his failed bid for the Pennsylvania Senate seat.
He lost that campaign to Senator John Fetterman, who worked to portray Oz as out of touch. Things got easier when Oz posted a viral video complaining about the cost of assembling a crudité platter.
Musk and Ramaswamy do not need Senate confirmation. Their group will operate outside of government and work closely with the Office of Management and Budget.
But other wealthy Trump candidates will have to take note of the numerous potential financial and ethical conflicts they could bring as they navigate the public confirmation process through the Senate.
The conglomerate’s parade also risks undermining Trump’s brand of populism, which won him support from working-class voters in the 2024 election.
To be sure, getting rich hasn’t been Trump’s responsibility yet. His billionaire status has long been a key feature of his public persona and is part of his appeal to his many supporters. To date, he is the richest president of all time, with a net worth of more than $6 billion, according to Forbes.
But with the administration poised to bring in levels of wealth that dwarf anything that has come before it, the candidates’ personal wealth could become a more important issue.
