Tech billionaires want to get richer. Trump is already helping them.

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

President Trump is no stranger to buddying up with the ultra rich, and that was on full display at his inauguration. Tech CEOs billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos were lined up at the proceeding. But beyond the optics, what policies are these CEOs and the new president working on together?

Brittany is joined by NPR's tech correspondent Bobby Allyn and The Atlantic's Ashley Parker to answer the question: is America a "tech oligarchy?" And what examples from Trump's first week in office point to that?

For more, read Ashley Parker's piece "The Tech Oligarchy Arrives" in The Atlantic.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, so does this sound like you?
0:02.4	You love NPR's podcasts.
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0:07.5	and you want to support NPR's mission to create a more informed public.
0:12.8	If all that sounds appealing, then it is time to sign up for the NPR Plus bundle.
0:18.7	Learn more at plus.npr.org.
0:26.1	Hello, hello.
0:27.7	I'm Brittany Luce and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
0:43.0	Yeah. culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Okay, y'all, this week we are connecting the dots between President Trump, the richest
0:47.9	0.001 percent, and saying the quiet part out loud.
0:55.3	I know, I know.
0:57.5	How are all these things connected?
1:05.4	Well, NPR's tech correspondent, Bobby Allen, and the Atlantic's Ashley Parker are here to explain it as loudly as they can.
1:07.3	Welcome to its been a minute, y'all.
1:08.2	Thank you so much for coming.
1:09.0	Thanks for having me.
1:09.8	Yeah, thank you.
1:16.3	Okay, really quick, when I say the top point zero zero one percent, richest people,
1:22.8	can you all even picture how much money that is? No, I can't. I mean, I, until very recently,
1:27.2	I used to work at the Washington Post, which is owned by Jeff Bezos, and sometimes people would do the calculation of Jeff Bezos buying the post as the
1:30.3	equivalent of me buying not even an overpriced latte.
1:34.2	Oh, my gosh.
	...

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