On Monday, the United States inaugurated its 47th president. During one of the coldest inaugurations on record, Donald Trump was sworn in as president in the Capitol Rotunda. Standing at the site of the attempted coup he incited just four years ago, he became the first convicted felon to take the oath of office.
Rather than the usual 10s of thousands, only around 600 people could attend his indoor inauguration. Between former presidents, lawmakers, Supreme Court justices and Cabinet nominees, there was not much room for additional guests. Yet, despite the limited space, Trump invited several tech CEOs. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Tesla’s Elon Musk were all seated in the second row, just behind the First Family. Apple’s Tim Cook, TikTok’s Shou Zi Chew and OpenAI’s Sam Altman sat in the third row.
Their presence was unprecedented. Tech CEOs had never received such prominent seats at an inauguration before. They sat ahead of even Trump’s Cabinet—his own political appointees.
In the weeks leading up to the event, the same CEOs had been currying favor with Trump. Musk spent $277 million on his re-election campaign and has become a ubiquitous presence at his rallies. Bezos blocked the Washington Post’s endorsement of his opponent. After his win, they all visited him at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and publicly congratulated him. Zuckerberg, Bezos, Pichai, Cook and Altman each contributed $1 million to his inaugural fund. Zuckerberg ended content fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, following Musk’s footprints at X. Through Amazon, Bezos is paying $40 million to license and stream a documentary about Melania Trump. And just last weekend, Chew publicly praised him through pop-up messages on TikTok while cutting and restoring service.
Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg are the three richest people in the world. Taken together, the tech CEOs are worth nearly $1 trillion. They all own the largest information technology companies. Musk, Zuckerberg and Chew control the world’s most popular social media platforms. Their wealth and power are unparalleled. By using their wealth and power as tech CEOs to bolster Trump, they are courting political power.
And they have succeeded in gaining it. Their front-row seats at the inauguration made it clear. Musk’s new position in the government, heading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, is a direct result of his staggering financial support—it is just one example of the power they seek to wield. The tech bros are America’s new oligarchs—or as some might say, “broligarchs.”
Oligarchy is not new in the United States. Over a decade ago, researchers concluded that the U.S. is dominated by the wealthy—holding more power to shift policy than the average American. However, it has never been as blatant as it is now. Even former President Biden warned against it in his farewell address, saying, “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.” He then mentioned the rise of the “tech-industrial complex” and the dangers it poses.
Today, the richest 1% already hold as much wealth as the bottom 90%. Given political power, their riches will only skyrocket. They will push for tax cuts for the wealthy, no antitrust enforcement and eliminating protections for workers, consumers and the environment—and they will succeed. Politicians will have no reason to resist as the ultra-wealthy line their pockets. The voices of average Americans will only diminish further.
Oligarchy and democracy cannot coexist. In a democracy, power between the people is equally shared. In an oligarchy, power is concentrated in the hands of the ultra-wealthy. With their wealth and power in the tech industry, the tech CEOs pose a significant threat to U.S. democracy. Yet, with our current president profiting from it, it is clear that the broligarchy is here to stay.