\u2014 Salon<\/a><\/i><\/b> <\/p>\n One of the truisms of American politics over the past few decades has been that voters want their presidents to be someone you\u2019d like to have a beer with, a regular guy \u2014 yes, it\u2019s only guys \u2014 you could relate to. Since politicians are very rarely regular guys, they often go to great lengths to create a persona designed to at least give that impression. Mostly that has meant pretending to be a Real American by riding horses, going hunting or driving around in a pick-up to prove they aren\u2019t some effete city slicker. Sometimes they try to fake it by being a Rust Belt kind of fellow or a military man. But the most important thing is to not act like some wealthy nob, even though most of them are, lording your superiority over the common folk whose votes are necessary for victory.<\/p>\n In 2016, Donald Trump took that strategy and blew it to smithereens<\/a>. He flaunted his wealth at every turn, refusing to do the standard meet-and-greets in diners and living rooms in favor of big rallies where he stood above the crowd and regaled them for hours on end. Instead of wandering around state fairs and talking to the locals, he would land in a field in his personal helicopter<\/a> and take some kids up for a ride. And all those people who insisted that they couldn\u2019t stand a city boy fell in love with the rich, braggadocious New Yorker.<\/p>\n But in a way, Trump did have the common touch. He liked fast food and sports and, most importantly, he shared all their gripes and complaints and articulated them in the same terms some used themselves. For all his crowing about his money and showing off, he really didn\u2019t put on airs. He was just like them.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t, of course, and he reportedly had nothing but contempt<\/a> for his followers. But for all of Trump\u2019s flashy displays of wealth, he was never really a member of the Billionaire Boys club either. He was a climber, always on the outside looking in. <\/p>\n But since he won the presidency the second time, it\u2019s different. He\u2019s one of the Big Money Boys now, and that club loves him as much as any MAGA redhat. <\/p>\n So far, the most indelible image<\/a> of Trump\u2019s second term is the line up of wealthy tech oligarchs standing right behind him at his inauguration: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> and his wife, Priscilla Chan, Amazon CEO and Washington Post publisher Jeff Bezos<\/a> and his then-fianc\u00e9e, Lauren S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and, of course, Elon Musk<\/a>, the richest man in the world. All of them were there to demonstrate their fealty to the man who would be king. And why not? After fomenting an attempted coup, inspiring an insurrection and being found liable for sexual abuse and defamation<\/a>, and massive fraud<\/a>, Trump\u2019s ballsy reelection was the most impressive act of legerdemain<\/i> they had ever seen, proving once again that rich men can do whatever they want. <\/p>\n Trump spends a good deal of his time as president these days exhibiting his exemption from all accountability. He brazenly parades his corruption right out in the open now, caring nothing for the fact that the American people are angry about the economy<\/a> and resent that their needs are going unmet. He is swallowing a firehose full of money for himself and his family<\/a>, selling access<\/a> to himself and the White House, blackmailing institutions<\/a> and accepting \u201cgifts\u201d<\/a> from foreign countries and individuals alike. <\/p>\n And he\u2019s more interested in entertaining Saudi princes<\/a> and tech broligarchs than he is in holding the rallies that were a constant feature of his first term. Even in the middle of the longest government shutdown in history, Trump invited<\/a> CEOs and billionaires to the White House for a lavish meal to thank them for their generous donations to his $300 million ballroom pet project. They dutifully bowed with great respect. <\/p>\n Donald Trump can get away with anything \u2014 and so can they. <\/p>\n The biggest scandal of his political career has unsurprisingly turned out to be a sex scandal. He has, after all, been dogged by them since his first wife Ivana confronted<\/a> his then-mistress \u2014 and future second wife \u2014 Marla Maples on the ski slopes of Aspen in 1989. And in 2016, the Access Hollywood tape nearly ended his presidential campaign. From Stormy Daniels<\/a> to E. Jean Carroll<\/a> to all the women who have come forward to accuse him of sexual assault<\/a> over a period of decades, it\u2019s hardly surprising that his long friendship with deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> would eventually result in some very close scrutiny by the public. Nothing could have been more predictable.<\/p>\n Aside from the horrors of Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a>\u2019s alleged underage sex trafficking operation, this scandal has revealed itself as yet another example of the culture of impunity<\/a> the elite members of our society enjoy. In 2008, Epstein himself was given a sweetheart plea deal<\/a> by federal prosecutors, and in retrospect it\u2019s hard not to conclude that it was the result of his relationships with all these rich and powerful men. Trump was one of them, a close friend of Epstein\u2019s for over 15 years, but he was hardly alone. <\/p>\n Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told FBI Director Kash Patel<\/a> that he\u2019s been informed \u201cthere [is] one Hollywood producer worth a few $100 million, one royal prince, one high-profile individual in the music industry, one very prominent banker, one high-profile government official, one high-profile former politician, one owner of a car company in Italy, one rock star, one magician and at least six billionaires\u201d that were part of Epstein\u2019s orbit. That, one suspects, is just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n As the fight over releasing the Epstein files<\/a> \u2014 which the president opposed after having promised in 2024 to do so \u2014 played out, Trump\u2019s followers were getting restive. Even after he flipped to endorse the release at the last possible minute and signed the bill into law, they know something\u2019s wrong but they aren\u2019t able to fully accept that their leader is one of those hated elites they\u2019ve always loathed. Last week, even Mike Cernovich, one of the most hard-core MAGA influencers and purveyor of the Pizzagate pedophile conspiracy theory, wrote on X<\/a>, \u201cDuring a recent visit in DC, the talk of everyone was how overt the corruption was. It\u2019s at levels you read about in history books. In nearly every department.\u201d No kidding.<\/p>\n We are living in a period of unimaginable wealth among the upper 1%, who are getting richer by the day. Elon Musk, despite how badly Tesla\u2019s stock performs or how outrageous he behaves, was just given a trillion dollar payday<\/a> by the company\u2019s shareholders. As the world\u2019s richest man, he does what he wants. In fact, according to a new report by Oxfam<\/a>, the 10 richest people in the United States have seen their collective fortune grow by nearly $700 billion since Trump secured a second term. <\/p>\n With all that money they can buy any number of lawyers, harass their enemies, reward their friends and elude any consequences for their criminal behavior. Just like Trump. He\u2019s their <\/i>leader now.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ic-cdn.flipboard.com\/salon.com\/c79f257de23d75b52f4266b8da1c2e4955ee6a0a\/_large.jpeg\")
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