Donald Trump was never the architect of a populist movement. He was the vehicle through which America’s ultra-rich achieved their greatest victory: the quiet capture of government power. The wealthiest elites recognized in him a perfect instrument, a celebrity with populist flair, authoritarian instincts, and a talent for distraction. While he played the part of anti-establishment crusader, billionaires advanced their campaign to dominate the nation’s political and economic systems.
For nearly half a century, the ultra-rich have worked to reverse the social progress that defined mid-twentieth-century America. The New Deal, the Great Society, and decades of worker protections limited their power. They sought to dismantle these constraints and return the country to near-feudal hierarchy where wealth dictates policy and democracy functions only in appearance. Trump provided the populist façade needed to disguise their agenda as grassroots rebellion.
His coarse bravado, disregard for norms, and instinct for grievance politics made him an ideal decoy. While he raged on social media, his administration delivered enormous tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy, gutted environmental and labor protections, and turned regulatory agencies into tools for private profit. Every spectacle distracted from the steady transfer of wealth and power upward.
The billionaires built an entire ecosystem to sustain their dominance. Central to this system was Fox News, which became the megaphone for the Trump cult and the broader elite agenda. Through repetition, fear, and emotional manipulation, Fox convinced millions that Trump was defending them from shadowy enemies when in truth he was defending billionaire privileges. The network transformed propaganda into entertainment, weaponizing trust to turn voters against their own interests.
“Follow the money” reveals how this power structure operates. Hedge fund magnates, oil barons, and corporate lobbyists poured billions into campaign funds, dark-money organizations, and disinformation networks. The Koch network, the Mercer family, the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and the Federalist Society worked in concert to shape policy and public opinion. Their mission was consistent: shrink government oversight, privatize public services, and ensure the wealthy retain permanent influence over lawmaking and courts.
These organizations built an ideological framework to mask greed as patriotism. They rebranded corporate monopolies as “free enterprise” and voter suppression as “election integrity.” They wrapped economic inequality in the language of faith and liberty, persuading ordinary citizens to equate billionaires’ freedom from taxes with their own freedom. The result was rule by wealth concealed beneath democratic appearance.
The ultra-rich employed multiple tools to achieve this takeover. Unlimited campaign spending gave them control over candidates from both parties. Gerrymandering and voter suppression diluted popular resistance. Social media became a weapon for sowing division and spreading falsehoods. Courts stacked with corporate-friendly judges now serve as guardians of plutocratic interests. Each measure eroded democratic foundations while concentrating power in elite hands.
Their urgency has intensified as America enters national decline. The United States is no longer the world’s leading economy, and the ultra-rich understand that in a shrinking empire, those who control power can still extract enormous wealth while ordinary citizens bear the costs. As global influence wanes, they are determined to secure their position atop a diminishing hierarchy, ensuring that even in decline, they remain insulated from consequences that will devastate everyone else.
Corruption has become the connective tissue of this new order. Lobbyists move effortlessly between public office and private industry, writing laws that favor their benefactors. Compliant politicians are rewarded with campaign donations, and speaking fees. The revolving door transforms governance into corporate management. The state, once a counterweight to wealth, now functions as its shield and servant.
Both major parties have been touched by this influence. Democrats, constrained by their donor base, often limit reform to gestures that do not threaten elite interests. Republicans have become the unapologetic political arm of corporate power. The political struggle of our time is not between left and right, but between concentrated wealth and democracy itself.
Millions of Americans still believe they are defending freedom, unaware that their anger has been redirected to protect the architects of their economic decline. Trump’s movement was never about empowering the people. It was a diversion designed to complete the long project of plutocracy. The oligarchs who sponsored him now stand behind a government that serves their interests automatically.
Unless citizens awaken to the reality that this is an economic war, not an ideological one, democracy will continue to erode. Trump was merely the instrument of their victory. His job is done.
Van Abbott is a long time resident of Alaska and regular opinion writer for the Juneau Empire. He has held management positions in government organizations in Ketchikan, Fairbanks, and Anchorage. He served in the Peace Corps in the late sixties as a teacher.
