Source: Forbes
Donald Trump was giving a victory speech last week, thanking those who had helped him pull off his stunning political comeback. Suddenly, a shout from the crowd interrupted his speech.
"Elon! Elon! Elon!"
"Oh, yes. We have a new star. A new star is born: He's Elon," Trump enthused, launching into a four-minute rant of praise for the world's richest man, promising to give the "super genius" tremendous power to influence U.S. policy and federal spending.
Elon Musk is the most famous (and richest) of the new alliances Trump is forging as he prepares to return to the White House. Trump, 78, has always prized close alliances with the rich and famous, but this time he's marshaling a new generation of loyalists, including podcast host Joe Rogan and mixed martial arts star Dana White.
This 2.0 version of the supporters squad has won Trump's favor through loyalty, campaign donations, public support, and of course flattery. Some of them are expected to become cabinet members, while others may serve as unofficial advisers, communicating with Trump through phone calls, golf events, podcasts and social media.
In addition to Musk, Trump's new allies include hedge fund tycoons John Paulson and Scott Bessent, both of whom are contenders for Treasury Secretary or other important economic positions, and both have vowed to help Musk cut spending. "I'm willing to be involved, both in front of the stage and behind the scenes," Bessent, who worked for Trump's old enemy George Soros for many years, told Forbes in an interview the day before the election. ”
Two other possible cabinet or senior advisory roles are Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., political novices who want to overhaul federal agencies. Kennedy plans to push to remove fluoride from drinking water and “clean up corruption” at agencies like the Food and Drug Administration. Ramaswamy briefly ran for office, during which he envisioned shutting down the entire Department of Education.
Among the rising tech stars in the Trump universe are Marc Andreessen and Jeff Yass. Yass). Anderson, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who has been a Democrat, sided with Trump over his tech policies and was invited to Mar-a-Lago on election night; Yass, a TikTok shareholder, appeared to convince Trump earlier this year to back off from threatening to ban the social media platform, which Trump later joined.
Trump will likely continue to seek advice from some of the people he has been consulting, starting with his family. While daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner have said they will not serve as presidential advisers again, Kushner told Forbes last week that he may still advise Trump informally. Lara, wife of Trump's son Eric, is a co-chair of the Republican National Committee and has a leading role in the campaign, standing by Trump's side as he gave his victory speech.
Also not to be forgotten are the group of billionaires who have supported him in the past, including Wall Street legend Carl Icahn, who also lives in Florida, Trump's business partner in Las Vegas, Phil Ruffin, and others. Ruffin, and former Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter, a Mar-a-Lago member who donated $10.1 million to a pro-Trump super PAC this cycle. These are the people Trump informally sought out for advice on a variety of issues during his first term, and all of them have sought to benefit financially from their friendship with the president.
You'll see a lot of courting and currying favor in the coming weeks. Who will win a coveted Cabinet appointment or other position? A closely watched political drama is about to unfold. If last time is any guide, even those who make it into the inner circle should be careful. Just ask Goldman Sachs veteran Anthony Scaramucci, who joined the White House as communications director on July 21, 2017, only to be fired after just 10 days.
Image source: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg
Once a supporter of Barack Obama, he has transformed himself into a stalwart of MAGA. Musk, 53, the CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, initially supported Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary before throwing his weight behind Trump. He donated $119 million to a pro-Trump political action committee, organized get-out-the-vote events in swing states, and campaigned relentlessly for Trump’s campaign on his social media company, X.
Trump has publicly praised Musk as a “genius” and promised to give him vast power over the federal budget. (Musk, the richest man on earth, has said he wants to cut federal spending by $2 trillion a year.) The two became so close that a photo of Trump’s family appeared online the day after the election, with Musk in it.
Image source: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
Lutnick is the CEO and controlling shareholder of the financial company Cantor Fitzgerald, which has annual revenue of $9 billion. Lutnick, 63, has a close relationship with Trump and is the co-chairman of Trump's transition team. He donated $5 million to Trump's MAGA political action committee, accompanied Trump on campaign trips, and introduced Elon Musk at a Madison Square Garden rally in October. Lutnick first became famous after the 9/11 incident. At that time, 658 employees of Cantor Fitzgerald were killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, including Lutnick's younger brother. Lutnick was sending his son to kindergarten on the first day of kindergarten that day. He then promised to rebuild the company and take care of the families of the employees who died, raising $180 million for them in the first five years.
As co-chairman of Trump's transition team, Lutnick vowed to select people who were "loyal" to the boss to form the second Trump administration.
Photo source: Rob Kim/Getty Images
Hedge fund tycoon Paulson, like Trump, was born in Queens. He made $3.8 billion by shorting subprime mortgages in 2007 and sold Miami's Doral Resort to Trump in 2012. The 68-year-old billionaire has donated just $800,000 to Trump's campaign this cycle but has become an influential economic adviser to Trump and is said to be a leading candidate for Treasury secretary.
Paulson said he wants to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts and work with Musk to cut federal spending, including eliminating renewable energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act signed by Biden.
Photo source: Andrew Harre/Bloomberg
The 76-year-old business woman is another co-chair of Trump's transition team. She served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term and donated $15.8 million to Trump's campaign this year. She is the co-founder of the think tank America First Policy Institute, and may use this role to exert greater influence in Trump's second term. The think tank, which is also an alternative to Project 2025, has prepared nearly 300 draft executive orders for Trump to consider and sign.
McMahon previously helped her billionaire husband Vince McMahon, also a Trump ally, run the wrestling promotion giant World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The company was founded by Vince and was one of the largest funders of the now-defunct Trump Foundation. (Vince is reportedly under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking, a charge he denies.) 05 Dana White
Photo credit: Michael Simon/Getty Images
The president of mixed martial arts company Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has supported Trump in all three presidential campaigns. The relationship between the two dates back to before Trump entered politics, when Trump was a fan of White's events and hosted mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions in his own industry. Months after the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021, Trump was still an unpopular figure, but White warmly welcomed Trump at a UFC event in June of the same year, which was one of his earlier public appearances after leaving office.
In the early morning of November 6, Trump invited White to speak on stage during his victory speech. White spoke passionately: "No one deserves this victory more than him." Some MAGA supporters called for White to serve as Trump's new press secretary, but White said he "has no political ambitions."
Image source: Vincent Alban/Bloomberg
The polite hedge fund executive who once worked for liberal philanthropist George Soros endorsed Trump early in the Republican primary earlier this year and donated $3 million to Trump's political action committee and the Republican Party Committee, earning himself a place in the MAGA camp.
As a key economic adviser who has emerged as a possible candidate for a cabinet post, Bessant advocates cutting federal spending and reforming the Federal Reserve to reduce the power of its chairman. In an interview with Forbes the day before the election, he said, "We are about to see a major international economic restructuring." He also confirmed his interest in serving in the Trump administration: "I am willing to be involved, both in front of the stage and behind the scenes."
Photo credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
The 39-year-old biotech billionaire ran as a pro-Trump alternative in the Republican primary but quickly dropped out, becoming an extremely active Trump spokesperson during the general election. The Indian-American entrepreneur is the author of the best-selling book "Woke, Inc." and took an activist stake in media company Buzzfeed earlier this year. He has advocated for shutting down federal government agencies including the FBI and the Department of Education. The millennial entrepreneur is reportedly being considered for a cabinet position.
On October 9, Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania: "We will recruit him, and he will be involved in some very important actions."
Photo source: Jason Mendez/Getty Images
In August, the descendant of the Kennedy political family suspended his campaign as an independent candidate and supported Trump. The former Democrat and environmental lawyer has attracted a large following with his skeptical stance on vaccines; he has advocated closing parts of the FDA and removing fluoride from drinking water. He said Trump would put him in charge of oversight of public health agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services. "He's going to make America healthy again," Trump said in his victory speech. "Just go for it, Bobby."
Photo source: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
The Silicon Valley venture capitalist, worth about $1.9 billion, publicly endorsed Trump in July and donated $2.5 million to his campaign. Anderson has always been a Democrat, but he explained his political shift in a podcast with his investing partner Ben Horowitz, who also initially supported Trump but switched sides in early October and donated to Harris.
Andreessen said his move to Trump was due to the Biden administration's hostility toward the tech industry - including its hostility to cryptocurrencies, which are a big part of Andreessen Horowitz's portfolio, and mergers and acquisitions, which are also a big pillar of the venture capital industry. The internet entrepreneur was expected to be a guest at the Mar-a-Lago dinner on election night.
The heir to the Mellon Bank fortune made the largest single donation to Trump's 2024 campaign, giving $150 million to Trump's MAGA super PAC, more than even Musk. He also donated $25 million to Kennedy Jr. before he dropped out of the race. Mellon's policy goals are unclear, but during his business career as a railroad boss he fought unions and donated to conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation.
The reclusive 81-year-old, who lives on a ranch in Wyoming and has not appeared in public for years, insists he is not as rich as he looks despite his huge donations. “I’m not some billionaire,” the grandson of American banking tycoon Andrew Mellon (who was Treasury Secretary in the 1920s) wrote in an email to Forbes earlier this year.
Photo credit: Jeff Bottari/Getty Images
Rogan is a former stand-up comedian and UFC commentator, now a podcast host. He conducted a three-hour interview with Trump 10 days before the election and publicly supported Trump on the eve of the election. In Trump's victory speech, fellow Trump fan Dana White thanked "the incredibly powerful Joe Rogan." Rogan's podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience" has more than 18 million subscribers and has been viewed 5.6 billion times on YouTube. When announcing Rogan’s endorsement, Trump boasted to the audience: “He’s absolutely the best in that field.”
Image source: SIG
Yass, co-founder of market-making giant Susquehanna, has long been a major Republican donor and one of the 30 richest people in the world, with an estimated net worth of $50 billion, including a $21.5 billion stake in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance. Yas is a libertarian who supported candidates such as Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy during the Republican primary. He reportedly met with Trump earlier this year and instructed his advisers to lobby the Trump team to support TikTok, which Trump tried to ban during his last term. Earlier this year, Trump publicly opposed Congress's ban on TikTok and joined TikTok in June, currently with 14 million followers.
Photo credit: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images
The North Dakota governor, who turned businessman, briefly ran for president and was once on Trump’s shortlist of vice presidential candidates. Now he could be a candidate for Trump’s energy secretary. One reason Trump favors Bogum is that he comes from a business background, starting a software company from scratch, selling it to Microsoft, and working as a senior executive at Microsoft for many years before entering politics. Forbes estimates that Bogum's personal wealth exceeds $100 million.
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