U.S. oligarchs like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Apple CEO Tim Cook were all spotted sitting behind Donald Trump’s family at church Monday morning, just hours before the incoming president will be inaugurated. And it’s a great reminder that the U.S. is about to enter a frightening new era that begins when Trump is sworn in as the 47th president at noon ET.
Trump attended St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington D.C. on Monday, a tradition that’s been observed by past presidents like Barack Obama and George W. Bush. But those presidents didn’t have business leaders who stand to benefit from the incoming administration filling out the pews.
Photographer Anna Moneymaker captured images from inside the church, and it’s a who’s who of the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world of tech, including guys like Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Cook, as well as Google CEO Sundar Pichai and podcaster Joe Rogan.
The Big Tech Mafia largely seemed to be sitting in one row, while Bezos’s partner Lauren Sánchez was also in the row near former British prime minister Boris Johnson, according to the Washington Post.
One notable absence from church was Elon Musk, at least based on the photos that were captured by the pool photographer. Musk and the other Big Tech CEOs all have enormous contracts with the U.S. government through their respective companies and stand to profit from being close to Trump. Thirteen billionaires are set to take formal roles in the Trump White House.
The commentators on CNBC defended the presence of the oligarchs at church. Chris Sununu, former governor of New Hampshire, was asked about the presence of these business leaders and he seemed excited by the visual on Monday, saying “it wasn’t bureaucrats” who were in the pews. The suggestion, of course, being that CEOs will be better at running the country.
Podcaster Joe Rogan was also at church near the incoming president, captured in a photo giving Trump a rather odd look. Rupert Murdoch, the 93-year-old media mogul who owns a wide swath of conservative media outlets around the world, was also spotted. Trump sat down at church next to incoming vice president JD Vance and his wife, incoming Second Lady Usha Vance. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner were sitting in the row behind the president.
Trump has promised to issue a flurry of executive actions as soon as he takes office, including pardons for the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But there were conflicting reports about whether Trump would pardon the most violent coup plotters.
President Joe Biden issued his own preemptive pardons early Monday for figures like Gen. Mark Milley and Dr. Anthony Fauci, people Trump has suggested he will target for retribution when he takes power. In fact, Trump has previously suggested Milley should be executed for treason. So Americans will find out soon enough whether those pardons are worth the paper they’re written on.
Trump also launched his own cryptocurrency late Friday, arguably one of the most dangerous actions he could’ve possibly taken before formally entering the White House, given its ability to transfer wealth from the masses to Trump personally. The crypto also risks destabilizing the global economy as people around the world make a bet that anything associated with the most powerful person in the world is a safe bet.
The $TRUMP coin quickly became one of the most traded coins over the weekend, accounting for almost 90% of Trump’s net worth, according to Axios. A full 80% of the coins are owned collectively by CIC Digital LLC, a company that’s an affiliate of the Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, also owned by Trump’s company, according to USA Today. Previously, it was illegal to just print your own money.
If you’re an American, things are about to change really quickly in this country. And all we can do is try to protect the vulnerable in our communities as best as possible while Trump and his goons plunder the country.
