In his first term, Donald Trump set the record for the wealthiest cabinet ever, and that record has just been obliterated by the cabinet for his second term. Here are the numbers. Trump's projected cabinet alone is worth at least $10 billion, according [00:00:19] to research by Axios and the nonprofit Americans for Tax Fairness, an estimate that likely undervalues the true total. And that beats the net worth of Trump's previous cabinet by about $4.5 billion billion with a B. Besides Trump, [00:00:36] Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, at least 11 other billionaires will serve in Trump's cabinet. They include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Education secretary Linda McMahon, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, small business administrator Kelly Loeffler. [00:00:57] President Biden's cabinet, by comparison, was worth an estimated 118 million when he took office, according to Forbes. Even excluding Elon Musk, the world's richest man and Trump's co-director of the Department of Government Efficiency, [00:01:14] the average net worth of Trump, his vice president and top appointees is 616 million. This figure is over 616 times higher than the mean average wealth of the typical American household, which is a little more than 1 million. [00:01:31] Speaking of Elon Musk, new filings have revealed that the ultra billionaire put at least $260 million towards electing Trump. Most of that went into Musk's own super PAC. The America PAC, but he also put over $20 [00:01:49] million into a group called the RBG PAC. That Pac ran ads claiming that Trump and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were aligned on abortion policy, and Musk was the only donor to the PAC. Now Sharon and was. [00:02:05] There are a couple different things here. You have a ultra wealthy cabinet, purportedly right wing populist going in with, I think, many right wing voters expecting them to work on their behalf. I don't think that's sincere. I'm curious what you think. [00:02:22] But then there's also this problem of the world's wealthiest person being able to put their thumb on the scales of the election, and nothing we can do to stop it. So, Sharon, let's start with you. How does all of this make you feel? And what do you what do you make of some of these numbers? [00:02:38] Actually, it makes me feel satisfied because we are exactly who we thought we were prior to the election and immediately after. They not like us. Still, though, there are ding dongs out there who want to believe that these people are going to fight for the little guy, the working person, all of it. [00:02:55] And it's a huge lie. I mean, he's not just gone wealthy, he's Is gone, as I like to say, one percenters. But even that's not true. It's like, you know, a fraction of a percent. These people all, you know, have their own yachts and meet somewhere every year, I'm sure. [00:03:12] And hey, maybe they'll give up their salaries, but that's a drop in the bucket. They not like us. What about you? I'm old enough to remember. Drain the swamp. Remember that where Trump was allegedly [00:03:28] going to Washington to rid, you know, the swamp being this concept of, like, people end up in these government positions, then go work for the corporation, and then the corporation ends up in the government position that's allegedly overseeing or regulating this. [00:03:45] And, you know, this was the idea of the swamp. And Trump was going to go to Washington and clean this place up. His first administration. And they would chant it at the rallies, drain the swamp, drain the swamp. So I'm just figuring out what is the opposite of draining the swamp. [00:04:01] He's drowning the swamp At this point, it's getting swampier by the second by each cabinet pick man. Just this idea that we just put all of these mega rich people unelected, unaccountable, [00:04:16] unaccountable into these positions and this idea that they're going to do anything in those in those jobs other than enrich themselves and their class cohort. This is class warfare personified, man. But it's being done on behalf of the oligarchs. [00:04:33] And, you know, the Elon thing is a joke. Actually, the Elon thing is the thing that I find to be most, least like, problematic. I just would love to see Elon try to figure out the labyrinth that is Washington bureaucracy. Like, this idiot's going to get up there and know which buttons to push [00:04:50] and which levers to pull, because he's got such a big brain. I'm less worried about that. But I do think, you know, you see CEOs of, you know, billion dollar companies getting shot like dogs in the streets by vigilantes. Don't think this stuff is unrelated. [00:05:07] People take the citizenry for granted and think these folks are stupid and don't understand what's going on. I don't think this anger is disconnected from what folks are seeing in Washington. Nicely. Now he's appointing a cabinet of billionaires and also people [00:05:25] who were affiliated with project 2025. And within that, we saw clear instructions for an incoming Trump administration. Here's how you just completely gut the federal government. Here's how you screw over working people. And here's how ultimately you create a system that, even more [00:05:43] than it does right now, sends money to corporations and special interests. You can just pilfer the government entirely. It's a total scam. And speaking of scams, it's not just billionaires who are filling Trump's cabinet. He's also appointing a host of crypto friendly figures. [00:06:00] On Wednesday, Trump said he plans to nominate Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is a crypto advocate and a cochairman of the Token Alliance at the Digital Chamber, a major blockchain trade association. [00:06:18] Last year, Atkins argued that the SEC should be more accommodating to cryptocurrency firms and exchanges. Trump made another pro crypto appointment yesterday in David Sax, who will serve as the white House AI and crypto czar. [00:06:33] Sax hosted a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco in June that raised more than $12 million for Trump's campaign. The fundraiser drew several cryptocurrency executives and tech investors. Sax. Venture capital firm Craft Ventures has invested in crypto and AI startups. [00:06:51] Sax himself has led investment rounds in many. The crypto industry has been celebrating sax appointment. It's also worth noting that in September of this year, Trump and his family launched their very own crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. [00:07:08] Earlier this week, we reported that crypto executive Justin Sun invested $30 million in World Liberty Financial. The US is becoming the blockchain hub and Bitcoin owes it to real, Donald Trump, wrote sun on X. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued sun [00:07:27] and three of his companies last year for alleged securities law violations. Fair shake PAC, a group funded by the cryptocurrency industry, spent over $169 million on congressional elections this cycle alone. [00:07:42] That group has stated that it has another 78 million on hand to spend in midterms. So my question for both of you, maybe we'll start with was how much have you put into World Liberty Financial, and are you holding it until it goes to the moon? [00:07:58] No, I actually got some actual coins. Guys, I don't know if you guys saw that she put out a cryptocurrency recently. That was that was more my speed and my flavor. So I went and got that. No, but seriously, if folks will recall, during Donald Trump's [00:08:15] first administration, he was actually pretty anti crypto in his rhetoric. And, you know, he went after those guys publicly. This time around, he completely changed his tune. And guess what? It's not a secret. He said, hey, these crypto guys gave me money. [00:08:31] I'm now not, against crypto and it's not secret. And, you know, another part of this that I think bears mentioning, guys, is that Kamala Harris had already signaled to these crypto bros that she was completely on board to Mark Cuban, [00:08:48] being one of her main surrogates was all over the place saying, don't worry, guys, Kamala is going to be on our side. So it seems like no matter who would have won this election, the crypto bros were going to come out on top. And that's just how it goes. I just wonder if you're a Donald Trump fan or whatever, [00:09:06] Donald Trump voter and you see this, I think some of themselves, they might justify this to themselves and say, hey, you know, this is how it goes. This is, you know, this is realpolitik. These people paid for stuff. And they're going to do what Donald Trump's going to do, what they paid for. That's how this place works. [00:09:21] And I would ask them, I guess they would say, well, I voted for Donald Trump. So he's going to do what I asked him to do. And I would ask these folks, when and if your interests come against the interests of these special groups, these very well connected groups, who the hell do [00:09:38] you think Donald Trump's going to choose? Every single time? I mean, and that's the problem with how our system operates with this legalized corruption. It's disgusting, quite frankly. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. I mean, you have JD Vance, who we know about that we know of has, you know, half [00:09:57] a million in Bitcoin and on down the line. They were sent there to get him reelected. The fix is already in. And it's great to tell people, are you invested? Do you have this? Most people don't even have extra income. I saw an article about why you should invest in Costco gold right now. [00:10:14] It's a good. It seems like a good deal. I mean, I'm not giving financial advice, but who could afford the bars, you know? So, yes, Donald Trump, the fix is already in. They're doing exactly what they said they would do. And they're going to take this tour on, on the road all across the world, [00:10:30] going to Paris. Okay. You know, he's going there with an in-law who he appointed. And it's just going to go on and on and on. Yeah, I was. I know you're kidding, but I do think that the hawk to a coin and [00:10:47] people allegedly putting money into it, seeing the price rise and then very quickly a bunch of whales and snipers and allegedly people affiliated with that project pulling out, selling to make the price plummet. I think the more we're seeing with these types of meme coins. [00:11:05] The more scams like that, I think it'll it'll maybe the the regulations around it might remain somewhat similar to his first term, but the punishment and enforcement for things like that will probably be much more lax, [00:11:22] because everyone in Trump's orbit is going to see an opportunity to do something similar and potentially very quickly make loads of money off of many unsuspecting and gullible investors through these meme coins that have no underlying technology assets, [00:11:41] program, anything. And that's what really worries me, that people who might see this as some way to gain financial security. To your point, Sharon, how many people have disposable income that they can invest, right. [00:11:57] How how many people actually have a 401 K that is projected to cover them for retirement? I think some people are drawn to crypto because that volatility can promise big returns, and that might be one way that they can achieve some sort of financial stability. [00:12:14] And ultimately many people are taking advantage of their desperation. And that just breaks my heart. Yeah. So first of all, you don't even have to go as far as Trump's orbit in terms of these meme coins. Donald Trump has a coin. [00:12:30] Okay, like the freaking president has a meme coin that is like it's a worthless piece of digital coinage like, and he's and people are going to buy into that. And you know what I would say? I would I would love to see the figures in terms of how many people [00:12:47] are actually own some Bitcoin or other, you know, cryptocurrency. I bet you it's like less than 10% of the American population. However, what I would say is that the people who end up on the wrong side of these crypto pump and dump scams are largely normal, [00:13:05] everyday working class people who thought this was a way to achieve, quote unquote, financial freedom. And that's the sad reality, of all of this. And, you know, the only thing I will say is, you know, we could be a little balanced up here outside of just this meme meme coin, [00:13:22] or just like Bitcoin as this quote unquote alternative currency, which I think is a complete crock. In terms of its utility, I think there are technologies related to cryptocurrencies in terms of like how [00:13:37] financial transactions happen that will have eventually some real world usages. Right? But that's not what people are talking about every day that like, you know, you might be able to make bank transactions faster, you know, in terms of a wire or your employer paying you [00:13:55] or something like that. That's not what people are talking about. People think they're going to buy low on freaking Doge and get rich someday. And I got news for you guys. It's not going to happen? Yeah. No, I think that's totally fair and worth pointing out. [00:14:10] Like if there's some blockchain technology that can expedite the ACH planet money did a really good podcast several years ago at this point about ACH transactions and why they take, in some cases, a few to several days seems antiquated when we have things like Venmo. [00:14:26] And if you want to apply that kind of technology to an underlying banking system, that is one use case. But there is no inherent value in some of these meme coins, and people are getting just totally swindled. And it's unfair. 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