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Donald Trump’s campaign pledged to be a champion for the working class. He ran campaign ads vowing to lift up the “hardest working citizens.” The Republican National Convention even put the spotlight on “everyday Americans.”
But his incoming administration reflects a government run by billionaires, stuffed with Wall Street fixtures, investment bankers, real estate developers and oil executives, all within reach of power to slash services that millions of poor and vulnerable Americans depend on.
Trump himself is set to become the wealthiest president in history, with an estimated net worth of roughly $6 billion, according to Forbes.
Elon Musk, whose net worth is more than $343 billion, joins more than a dozen billionaires and ultra-wealthy Wall Street characters joining Trump’s administration. Together, their net worth exceeds $360 billion — larger than the gross domestic product of more than 11 dozen countries.
The president-elect has tapped at least 11 billionaires alone, including Musk, tech entrepreneurs Jared Isaacman and Vivek Ramaswamy, former professional wrestling magnate Linda McMahon, investment bankers Howard Lutnick and Warren Stephens, and his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, whose family fortune exceeds $7 billion.
The world’s wealthiest man is working with Trump’s administration and congressional Republicans to recommend mass firings and drastic cuts to government services and spending.
“We have to reduce spending to live within our means,” he said days before the election. “That necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.”
Here is a look at some of the wealthy Wall Street executives and billionaires Trump wants in his administration.
The billionaires
Frank Bisignano, Social Security administrator: More than $900 million
Frank Bisignanno, Trump’s nominee to lead the agency overseeing the administration of Americans’ retirement benefits, is the president of Wisconsin-based Fortune 500 financial technology firm Fiserv Inc, which has a market value of more than $100 billion.
Stephen Feinberg, deputy defense secretary: $5 billion
Trump has offered the second most-powerful position at the Department of Defense to private-equity investor Stephen Feinberg, the CEO of Cerberus Capital Management.
The company, which previously owned private military contractor DynCorp, has investments in hypersonic missiles, drawing concerns from the left that the day-to-day operations of the more than $800 billion agency will have significant conflicts of interest and opportunities for self-enrichment with defense contractors.
Jared Isaacman, NASA administrator: $3 billion
Trump’s pick to lead NASA is Jared Isaacman, the founder of Pennsylvania-based processing firm Shift4 Payments and defense firm Draken International, which he sold to multi-billion dollar asset manager Blackstone for a reported nine-figure sum.
Charles Kushner, US ambassador to France: $7.1 billion
Charles Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and the co-founder of real estate developer Kushner Companies. Forbes has estimated the company’s net worth at nearly $3 billion and the family’s fortune at roughly $7.1 billion. Charles Kushner and his wife Seryl own a 20 percent stake in Kushner Companies, or roughly $580 million.
Kelly Loeffler, small business administrator: $1.1 billion
The former senator from Georgia served as CEO of Bakkt, a subsidiary of commodity and financial service provider Intercontinental Exchange, of which her husband Jeffrey Sprecher is CEO. His net worth is estimated at more than $1.1 billion, according to Forbes.
Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary: $2 billion
The CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, with an estimated net worth of more than $2 billion, was tapped to lead the Department of Commerce while he is serving as Trump’s transition team co-chair.
He helped raise millions of dollars for Trump’s campaign and has been a cheerleader for Trump’s economic agenda, including the president-elect’s plans for broad tariffs.
Linda McMahon, Education Secretary: $2.5 billion
The co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment was nominated to lead an agency that Trump and his allies want to dissolve entirely. McMahon donated $6 million to Trump’s first campaign and later served as the administrator of the Small Business Association during his administration. She is now a co-chair of his 2024 transition team after briefly serving on the Connecticut Board of Education,
She shares a $2.5 billion net worth with her husband, professional wrestling mogul and personality Vince McMahon.
Elon Musk, Department of Government Efficiency: $343 billion
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, helped steer more than a quarter billion dollars into Trump’s campaign and has used his X platform — formerly Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion — as a megaphone for the president-elect and his agenda.
His net worth is at least $343 billion, according to Forbes, and his net worth has increased by billions of dollars since Trump’s election victory. Musk, whose companies have also received tens of millions of dollars in government contracts, has been selected to lead an outside advisory committee to recommend drastic cuts to government spending.
Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency
Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk’s co-chair of the incoming DOGE, is a former pharmaceutical executive who briefly ran for the Republican presidential nomination before dropping out to throw his support behind Trump.
He made his fortunes with Roivant Sciences, a pharmaceutical company he founded in 2014. His net worth is estimated to be $1.1 billion, according to Forbes.
Warren Stephens, ambassador to the UK: $3.4 billion
Trump’s nominee for UK ambassador is the CEO of Arkansas-based investment bank Stephens Inc., which notably handled Walmart’s initial public offering in 1970.
He donated at least $2 million to Trump-supporting political action committees and the Republican National Committee and gave tens of thousands of dollars to other Republican campaigns in the 2024 cycle.
Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East: $1 billion
Real estate tycoon Steve Witkoff has an estimated net worth of at least $1 billion, according to Forbes.
He reportedly has long-standing ties to wealth funds in the Middle East, much like his Middle East envoy predecessor Jared Kusher, Trump’s son-in-law, who secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman six months after leaving the White House.
Other ultra-wealthy nominees
Massad Boulos, senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs
Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, is the CEO of Boulos Enterprises and automobile conglomerate SCOA Nigeria, and has been widely described in reports as a billionaire, though his estimated net worth is not clear. His son Michael Boulous has been described as the “billionaire heir” to his father’s business fortune.
Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary
Trump’s campaign economic adviser Scott Bessent founded Key Square Capital Management and worked at a hedge fund founded by major Democratic donor George Soros. The firm had roughly $600 million in assets under its management at the end of 2023.
Before becoming a Trump donor and adviser, Bessent donated to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, notably Al Gore’s presidential run.
Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary
North Dakota’s two-term Republican governor Doug Burgum made more than $1.1 billion after selling his software company Great Plains to Microsoft in 2001.
After ending his own presidential campaign in December 2023, Burgum endorsed Trump and became an outspoken supporter.
Forbes estimates his net worth to be at least $100 million.
Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services
Jim O’Neill previously worked as a senior health official during George W. Bush’s administration and was considered for a top job in federal health agencies in Trump’s first term. He later became the acting CEO of the Thiel Foundation, the philanthropic arm of billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, a former Trump mega donor who financially backed a Senate campaign from his former acolyte JD Vance.
O’Neill helped Thiel and investor Ajay Royan launch venture capitalist firm Mithril Capital Management, where the vice president-elect worked before his Senate campaign.
Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator
The TV doctor who made a name for himself through Oprah Winfrey’s daytime talk show and with his own Dr. Oz Show before losing a Pennsylvania Senate race to Democratic Senator John Fetterman has a net worth of at least $100 million.
Mehmet Oz holds millions of dollars in stocks at health insurance and pharmaceutical companies, according to financial disclosures during his Senate campaign, and he rakes in millions of dollars from his TV career. A company run by his wife’s family — among the wealthiest in Pennsylvania — had an annual revenue of more than $5 billion in 2022.
David Perdue, US ambassador to China
The former Republican senator from Georgia is a former executive with Reebok, Sara Lee and Dollar General, where he helped outsource the company’s manufacturing to China.
While in office, Perdue was among the most prolific stock traders in Congress, and was under federal investigation for possible insider trading on his sale of more than $1 million in stock to a financial firm. He was never charged, and he lost a re-election bid to Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in 2020.
John Phelan, Navy Secretary
The founder of Palm Beach-based private investment firm Rugger Management is the former investments manager for billionaire Michel Dell of Dell Technologies.
John Phelan, who does not have any military experience, reportedly hosted a fundraiser for Trump’s campaign this summer at his $38 million home in Aspen, Colorado, which cost $25,000 to $500,000 per couple. Phelan and his wife Amy, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, are also avid art collectors, including works from Chagall, Dubuffet and Picasso, among others.
David Sacks, White House AI and Crypto Czar
Trump, who promised to be the “crypto president” despite calling it a “scam” at one point, has named venture capitalist David Sacks as his pointman on all things involving cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.
Sacks founded Yammer, which Microsoft purchased in 2012 for $1.2 billion, as well as venture capital firm Craft Ventures. He is also a former CEO at PayPal. He notably moderated a Twitter Spaces discussion between Ron DeSantis and Elon Musk in 2023, and he hosted a sold-out fundraiser for Trump’s 2024 campaign at his home, with tickets going for $50,000 to $300,000 per person.
His net worth is estimated to be roughly $200 million.
Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy
Fracking industry executive Chris Wright holds a more than $50 million stake in Liberty Energy, the company he co-founded in 2011. He also drew roughly $5.6 million in compensation from the company last year.
