Rare scene at the US presidential inauguration

At the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump on January 20th, 5 tech billionaires among the richest people in the world were present in the honorary seats, including Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla and SpaceX), Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Meta Platforms), Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon), Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), and Sundar Pichai (CEO of Alphabet and Google). They sit near the Trump family and appointed members of the inner circle. These names represent over $12,000 billion in market value and over $1,000 billion in global assets. This is a departure from tradition, especially for a president who often portrays himself as a champion of workers and laborers. Seats near the president are typically reserved for the president's family, former presidents, and other distinguished guests, according to NBC News. The gathering place for the most powerful political and financial forces in the United States Every CEO supports the upcoming president and his political ambitions with large donations. And each of them stands to gain or lose a lot from Trump's decisions on antitrust policies or regulations, according to the Wall Street Journal. Before the ceremony, Musk and Pichai took the opportunity to check their phones while waiting for the event to start, while other technology leaders chatted with future cabinet members. When Trump entered the Rotunda, he shook hands with Tim Cook. Elon Musk smiled and raised his thumb when the President mentioned the plan to send humans to Mars.

In addition, TikTok CEO Shou Chew also appeared, just one day after President Trump declared that he would sign an executive order to keep the app operational in the U.S. Other billionaires such as Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google), Bernard Arnault (CEO of LVMH), investor John Paulson, and Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox News and Wall Street Journal) also attended. Contrary to the supportive atmosphere of tech tycoons, former President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris barely applauded as Trump criticized the "mistakes" in his previous term. However, former President George W. Bush praised some parts of the speech, especially when Trump mentioned the reimplementation of the immigration policy - "Remain in Mexico". After the inauguration ceremony, the group of super wealthy billionaires from Silicon Valley continued to stand side by side with lawmakers, Supreme Court justices, and the senior team of President Donald Trump at the lunch party. Usually, the inauguration luncheon following the presidential oath ceremony is a formal event. It mainly consists of a senator speaking with a newly appointed cabinet member. But the scene at President Trump's lunch is very different. Billionaires and policy planners sit together in the intersection of political power and money, according to the New York Times. The close relationship between the technology industry and the Trump administration Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan had a lively conversation with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Trump. Mr. Kavanaugh is a long-time friend of Joel Kaplan, Head of Global Policy at Meta. The Supreme Court has also participated in important rulings on freedom of speech related to social media. Apple CEO Tim Cook sat at the same table with Senator Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic minority party in the Senate, Donald Trump Jr., and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Interestingly, just a few days earlier, Justice Alito and other justices had unanimously approved the ban on TikTok for national security reasons, requiring Apple and Google to remove this app from their app stores in the United States. The tension between the technology industry and politics is becoming more apparent as President Trump unexpectedly announced on January 19th that he will sign an executive order to extend the operation of TikTok in the US, while negotiating to sell the app to an organization outside of China. As the owners of the two largest app stores, Apple and Google have faced great pressure from lawmakers to remove TikTok from their platforms. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos appeared at lunch with fiancée Lauren Sanchez, drinking coffee from a paper cup and chatting with several senators, including Ted Cruz and wife Heidi. Bezos was seated next to Senator John Thune, the leader of the Republican majority party in South Dakota. Thune is the second-highest-ranking official after President Trump at the banquet. He has a significant influence on the technology industry due to his role on the NASA oversight trade commission, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, also did not miss the opportunity to partner with President Trump and chat with Tim Cook and Vivek Ramaswamy, a senior advisor to Trump, who was appointed by Trump to run the Government Efficiency Department (DOGE) with Elon Musk. Of course, politicians and billionaires always spend time together, according to the New York Times. Candidates seek contributions from the super-rich in their campaigns. Conversely, CEOs seek support from elected officials to change laws or regulations to suit them. But for Trump, the camaraderie at his luncheons is much closer and has been fully documented by cameras. In his upcoming farewell speech, then-US President Joe Biden warned that America was becoming a place where tech billionaires hold dangerous levels of power and influence over the nation. DYOR! #Write2Earn #Write&Earn $BTC {spot}(BTCUSDT)