- Donald Trump will be sworn in as the president of the United States on Monday for the second time, and behind him you’ll see Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and other tech titans, if all goes as planned.
In a press conference after his victory, the former and future president Donald Trump proclaimed: “In the first term everybody was fighting me. In this term everybody wants to be my friend.”
There is no better way to describe the U-turn of the corporate elite in the last eight years. Consider the technology billionaires set to be in attendance at Trump’s inauguration on Monday, and those who poured millions into it.
In 2017, Trump spoke of “American carnage,” protests erupted—and it was mostly just family who were near him when he was sworn in. In photos, you can see his vice president Mike Pence, his wife Melania Trump, and his children: Barron, Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, and Donald Trump Jr. Behind them are the Obamas, Bidens, and in-laws—and Republican mega donor Miriam Adelson among elected officials. There are no photos of the three wealthiest men in the world who are all expected to be there this time.
Trump 2.0’s right-hand man Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be in attendance for the president-elect’s inauguration on the dais. TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew is planning to attend, too. Although, that was before the Supreme Court upheld a law banning his app if it is not sold to a non-Chinese company. Multiple publications have reported Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are also planning to show up.
Their attendance is despite Trump’s prior insults and threats; he once called Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, “Jeff Bozo” and threatened to jail Zuckerberg. Not to mention, Musk and Zuckerberg were set for a cage match at one point, and Musk and Bezos are in a space travel competition. But they appear to have put that aside for a budding bromance.
Carrie Underwood, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts, Gavin DeGraw, and other stars are slated to perform throughout the inaugural celebrations—again, a step up in A-list celebs from the last time, when the lineup included The Missouri State University Chorale and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Since his election night win, Trump has raised more than $200 million, at least $150 million of which is for his inauguration, according to The New York Times. He appears to be beating his own record set eight years prior.
In 2017, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase are among the corporations that donated to his inaugural fund, according to data from OpenSecrets. While there isn’t much difference when it comes to those who donated, apart from Meta and Uber, for instance, some companies and their respective leaders are donating more and are far more public about it. Take Amazon for example: the company donated less than $100,000 to Trump’s first inauguration, according to OpenSecrets. In early December last year, outlets reported Amazon was planning to donate $1 million for Trump’s second inauguration, and stream it on Prime.