Trump was elected because millions of ordinary Americans saw him as the only anti-establishment candidate. Now, Trump’s MAGA coalition is swarming with the worst of the establishment: the richest of the rich, the heads of the biggest multinational technology corporations—the top dogs of world capitalism.
These people are not just influential politicians. Billionaires don’t have to worry about appealing to any constituency. They aren’t even just wealthy. No, their power is about much more than money—it’s about control over huge swathes of production and distribution on a global scale.
These robber barons got all that wealth by exploiting the very workers who voted for Trump, not to mention workers in other countries. These people are members of the same class that offshored manufacturing jobs and destroyed so many Americans’ standard of living—all to make more profits. They’re the very people that “Make America Great Again” is supposed to target, yet Trump has lavishly welcomed them to his camp. Out of the 12 richest people in the world, ten are American tech capitalists, and many of them have partied with The Donald both at Mar-a-Lago and his inauguration.
Western liberalism is dying
Why is this happening? These billionaire capitalists are realizing that Western liberalism is dying. Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, they have concluded that Trump is the man with the power. For the capitalists, their class interests always come first. Much of their wealth is a function of the shares they hold in the companies they run and this must be constantly boosted—or lost. This is the source of the disgusting hypocrisy.
Before MAGA, Mark Zuckerberg was one of the most liberal tech CEOs. In 2016, he added fact-checkers to his platforms, flagging any “fake news.” When the Biden administration commanded him to take down certain content, he obeyed—and Trump threatened him with life in prison! Four years ago, Zuckerberg banned Trump from Instagram and Facebook. During the 2024 electoral cycle, he and his wife donated $400 million to Biden and the Democrats.
Now, Zuck has concluded that if he wants to keep his wealth, he must lick Trump’s boots—and Trump is all too happy to watch him do it. He has now become a born-again meathead, abolishing both fact-checking and tokenistic DEI programs at Meta.
Mark Zuckerberg was one of the most liberal tech CEOs, now he’s concluded that if he wants to keep his wealth, he must lick Trump’s boots. / Image: Trump White House, Flickr
Most famously, Musk has also bent the knee. Let’s not forget that he supported Obama twice, Clinton in 2016 against Trump, and Biden in 2020, also against Trump. After watching Trump get shot in the ear, Musk saw the light and went “dark MAGA.” He became Trump’s golden boy, actively campaigning and spending over a quarter of a billion dollars to get his new pal elected.
But it’s not just Zuckerberg and Musk. Jeff Bezos refused to let his Washington Post endorse Harris. Bill Gates visited Mar-a-Lago and said he was “frankly impressed” by Trump pretending to care about curing HIV. Sergey Brin, the seventh-richest person in the world and cofounder of Google, went from protesting Trump’s immigration in policies in 2017 to attending Trump’s second inauguration. Sundar Pichai, Brin’s successor, went from firing a Google employee for speaking out against Google’s DEI policies to firing 28 employees for protesting the $1.2 billion Project Nimbus—a contract with Israel. Now he is backing Trump, too. Class interests always win out in the end!
MAGA’s big tent has an expiration date
Normally, presidential inaugurations are held outdoors, and tickets are distributed by members of Congress to their constituents for free. But Trump moved his second inauguration inside because of the unusually cold temperatures. Only about 700 people could fit inside the venue, and these were hand-selected by Trump. Only billionaires, politicians, and media made it in, while his working-class supporters were literally left out in the cold.
This scene is an apt preview of the future. Trump has succeeded in uniting many American workers and capitalists into the MAGA coalition, but this cross-class alliance can’t last forever. This is because the interests of the billionaires and ordinary working Americans are diametrically opposed. It’s worth pointing out again and again that all the wealth of these people comes directly from exploiting workers—and it’s likely that many of Trump’s less-well-off supporters are already disgusted by the presence of these billionaires.
When the reality of capitalism in decline sets in, Trump will force us to foot the bill. This will expose him in the eyes of millions of workers who voted for him because they hated politics as usual, and were sick of rising costs. Many of these people will take off their MAGA hats and start looking for something else to take down the establishment. If we, the communists, can become a far more visible force, these former Trumpers will be wide open to the red flag.