Tiffany Muller
01/16/25
(US News) Donald Trump’s inauguration next week is the beginning of an oligarchy that’s been 15 years in the making. The day after Trump’s return to office marks the anniversary of the disastrous 2010 Supreme Court decision on Citizens United, which allowed for unlimited independent spending on elections. The ruling gave wealthy donors and special interests outsize influence in Washington, and the results are now on full display in Trump’s administration, a veritable billionaire’s ball.
As President Joe Biden warned in his farewell address Wednesday night, “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 urged the country to act against the forces that Citizens United unleashed: “We need to get dark money — that’s that hidden funding behind too many campaign contributions — we need to get it out of our politics.”
More than $20 billion was spent on the 2024 election, and the majority of the megadonors were Republicans, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan watchdog that tracks money in politics. Trump has rewarded his donors and big-money interests by appointing the wealthiest administration ever, including billionaires who collectively spent hundreds of millions on Trump’s campaign.
Take, for example, today’s confirmation hearing for Scott Bessent to run the Treasury Department. The choice of hedge fund manager Bessent, who donated $1.5 million to Trump or outside groups supporting him, and Commerce Secretary-nominee Howard Lutnick, a billionaire financial services CEO who donated $9.4 million to Trump or groups supporting him, puts Wall Street elites in charge of the rules. Expect to see them dole out benefits to hedge funds and huge corporations at the expense of small businesses and consumers. Instead of creating an economy that builds from the bottom up, the deck will be stacked in favor of the wealthy.
What we’re witnessing is the installation of an oligarchy, in which the wealthy few who control business and industry also control the levers of government. That’s a recipe for them to further enrich themselves while the working class is left behind.
All told, at least eight big donors who collectively spent more than $300 million to bankroll Trump’s 2024 campaign have been chosen for Cabinet or other senior administration positions, according to reporting by CNN. In addition to Bessent and Lutnick, they include tech titan Elon Musk, who donated $263 million and has been tapped for a newly created Department of Government Efficiency; Linda McMahon, who contributed $21 million and has been nominated to be education secretary; and Kelly Loeffler, who gave $2.9 million and has been selected to lead the Small Business Administration.
In several of these positions, nominees could regulate their own interests. The donors “are not just getting these sort of plum ambassadorships on the side,” Brendan Glavin, research director at OpenSecrets, told CNN. “Major donors are getting positions that affect policy.”
How did we get here? Fifteen years ago, in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the conservative wing of the Supreme Court exacerbated the role that money plays in politics by ruling that corporations and unions could spend unlimited amounts of money on political activities so long as they were done without coordinating with a party or candidate.
For the previous century, corporations had been banned from spending directly in U.S. elections, and individuals faced strict limits on how much they could contribute to campaigns. The Citizens United ruling overturned these long-standing protections, opening the floodgates to a proliferation of super political action committees and unlimited dark money spending on campaigns, giving wealthy donors and special interests outsize influence in Washington.
To be clear, Citizens United has allowed both parties to raise money from the billionaire class and large corporations. And Vice President Kamala Harris pulled in more total donations in the 2024 presidential race than her opponent did, more than 40% of which came from small donors. But Trump is elevating his donors to major positions within the federal government.
One prominent example: Trump implored energy executives to spend $1 billion to bankroll his campaign to remove burdensome environmental regulations, according to reporting by The Washington Post. He’s since backed the gutting of environmental protections and the revocation of Biden’s ban on offshore drilling, both of which will benefit Big Oil interests. Though the official figure donated from oil interests to his campaign, to the Republican National Committee and to affiliated groups was far lower ($75 million, according to The New York Times), we’ll never truly know how much Big Oil coughed up. Citizens United allows super PACs to take unlimited contributions from sources who aren’t required to disclose their donors.
What we do know is that Trump has named Chris Wright, an oil industry executive known for his skepticism about climate change, to run the Department of Energy. And he has selected North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a darling of the fossil fuels industry, to run the Department of the Interior. If these men follow Trump’s mantra of “Drill, baby, drill,” their agencies are likely to prioritize drilling, deregulation and corporate profits over environmental protection and public health. Such changes would be likely to worsen air pollution, contaminate water supplies and risk natural disasters that wreak havoc on American families.
Then there’s Elon Musk. The world’s wealthiest person, Musk was the single largest donor in the 2024 election. The president-elect has named him to helm a new advisory commission with far-reaching sway over every aspect of government, and others who share his interest in deregulation are being nominated to top positions that directly affect his businesses. Brendan Carr, appointed by Trump to lead the Federal CommunicationsCommission, has made clear his intentions to dismantle independent regulatory agencies. Trump also nominated Jared Isaacman, an investor in Musk’s SpaceX, to oversee NASA, giving him oversight of billions of dollarsin government contracts for Musk companies SpaceX and Starlink.
Citizens United has given billionaires and special interests unprecedented power to influence elections, and in turn, influence our government. Over the last 15 years, Republicans have blocked efforts by Democrats to counteract this decision with genuine campaign finance reform. With Republicans now controlling a governing trifecta in the White House and both branches of Congress, the damage for the foreseeable future will be severe. But it doesn’t have to be permanent.
Breaking up this cycle of corruption starts with holding the GOP accountable and building momentum to elect leaders who will stand up to the special interests and for the people. We need congressional majorities that will pass reforms like the Freedom to Vote Act, which would end dark money and strengthen campaign finance laws. Ultimately, we must either pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United or confirm enough Supreme Court justices who will undo this disastrous decision once and for all. These reforms are essential to a healthy, open and accountable democracy.
We can’t ignore how we got here, and we can’t afford to accept this as the new normal. We must listen to the parting words of our 46th president. The American people deserve a government that works for them, not one auctioned off to the highest bidder. It’s time to fight back and restore power to where it rightfully belongs – with the people.
Tiffany Muller is the president of End Citizens United, the leading grassroots organization dedicated to rooting out corruption and protecting voting rights. The group, run by a team of veteran Democratic operatives, has more than 4 million members nationwide.