An article by Robert Reich on America’s media oligarchy and its rightward shift, the rejected Ann Telnaes cartoon that brilliantly articulates this shift (now arguably a fait accompli) and, a few related snippets in support of this contention.
Three billionaires: America’s oligarchy is now fully exposed
One of the unacknowledged advantages of the horrendous era we’ve entered is that it is revealing the putrid connections between great wealth and great power for all to see. Oligarchs are fully exposed and they are defiant. It’s like hitting the “reveal codes” key on older computers that let you see everything.
On Wednesday (26th February, 2025), Jeff Bezos, the third-richest person in America, who bought the Washington Post in 2013, announced that the paper’s opinion section would henceforth focus on defending “personal liberties and free markets”. Anything inconsistent with this view would not be published, according to his statement. “Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.” The Post’s opinion editor, David Shipley, promptly resigned, as he should have.
“When they speak of ‘freedom’, what they actually seek is freedom from accountability”
You’ll recall that Bezos barred the Post from endorsing Kamala Harris in the last weeks of the 2024 election. Subsequently, the paper wouldn’t print its cartoonist’s drawing showing Bezos and other oligarchs bowing to Trump, leading the cartoonist to resign. Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, bought Twitter in 2022, laid off everyone who was filtering out hateful crap on the platform, renamed it X and turned it into a cesspool of lies in support of Trump. Mark Zuckerberg, the second-richest person, has followed suit, allowing Facebook to emit lies, hate and bigotry in support of Trump’s lies, hate and bigotry.
Oil’s ‘blessings’ & the American dollar standard
📕 “Political maps of Arabia” →
All three of these men were in the first row at Trump’s inauguration. They, and other billionaires, have now exposed themselves for what they are. They are the oligarchy. They continue to siphon off the wealth of the nation. They are supporting a tyrant who is promising them tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks that will make them even richer. They are destroying democracy so they won’t have to worry about “parasites” (as Musk calls people who depend on government assistance) demanding anything more from them.
“When billionaires take control of our communication channels, it’s not a win for free speech. It’s a win for their billionaire babble.”
When they talk of “personal liberties and free markets” they mean their own liberties to become even richer and more powerful, as the rest of America slides into worse economic insecurity and fear.
Allocating oil-rent (“resource wealth” matters)
📕 “The Arabian Gulf Social Contract” →
📕 “Arabian Gulf sovereign wealth” →
This “reveal code” moment is, in a way, a blessing. It allows everyone to see where the money and power have gone. It is a prerequisite to the long and difficult but necessary process of creating an economy and democracy for the many rather than the few.
Saying it all
The Washington Post’s Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from her position at the newspaper after its refusal to publish a satirical cartoon depicting the outlet’s owner, Jeff Bezos – along with other media and technology barons – kneeling before Donald Trump as he gears up for his second US presidency. “I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations – and some differences – about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” Telnaes wrote on Friday in an online post on the Substack platform detailing her decision to quit. “Until now.”
Note the Mickey Mouse (fully prostrated at the alter and in colour for added emphasis). Well, in in December of 2024 (once the outcome of the U.S. presidential race had been determined), ABC News – which is owned by Disney – and its anchor George Stephanopoulos agreed to pay $15 million to a foundation and museum to be established by Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit he had filed against the network. Stephanopoulos and his employer also agreed Stephanopoulos would express regret over on-air statements that he made in March claiming Trump had been found “liable for rape” in a lawsuit pursued against him by the columnist E Jean Carroll. A jury found Trump “had sexually abused” Carroll under New York law but stopped short of finding that he raped her. Trump subsequently was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million. Trump was also ordered to pay her $83.3 million after being found liable on defamation claims.
As Dani Anguiano’s piece on the Los Angeles Times suggests, the Washington Post is not alone on its rightwards shift (arguably too this is the direction of the New York Times also). According to Anguiano (2024), “Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, reportedly asked the newspaper’s editorial board to “take a break” from writing about Donald Trump, in the latest report of the billionaire owner’s growing influence over the newspaper’s coverage.” The LA Times was also “embroiled in controversy” for several weeks in the autumn of 2024 after Soon-Shiong blocked the board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president. The decision led to “a wave of resignations on the editorial board and the loss of thousands of subscriptions.”
Largesse: wealth distribution Trumpian style
Writing for Fox News Williams (2025) pointed out that the inauguration guest list featured some of the wealthiest individuals on the planet (notable omissions were working class citizens who’ve been negatively impacted by globalisation). individuals highlighted by Williams were Elon Musk (the Tesla and X CEO, worth $430 billion, who incidentally played a key role in Trump’s election campaign) Jeff Bezos (the Amazon CEO, worth $240 billion) Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram CEO, worth $216 billion) Miriam Adelson (Republican mega-donor, casino billionaire with a net worth exceeding $31 billion, known for leading efforts to secure Trump’s reelection through substantial financial contributions and for bankrolling Israel’s dispossession of Palestinian lands) and Bernard Arnault (a luxury brands titan with a family net-worth of some $180 billion).
As Robert Tait (2024) has pointed out, “in a recruitment process that appears to mock his campaign’s appeal to working-class voters, [Trump] has brazenly tapped a gallery of mega-rich backers for key positions that, in some instances, will give them power to cut spending on public services that are used by the most poor and vulnerable. At least 11 picks for strategic positions have either achieved billionaire status themselves, have billionaire spouses or are within touching distance of that threshold.” In the inauguration day photographs above, and notably positioned behind the highlighted billionaire “tech-titans” are some of the multimillionaire members of Trump’s 2025 administration, e.g., Doug Burgum (Secretary of interior), Kash Patel (FBI Director), Howard Lutnick (Secretary of commerce) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Secretary of health and human services).
References
Anguiano, D. (2024, December 18). LA Times owner asks editorial board to ‘take a break’ from writing about Trump. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/18/la-times-patrick-soon-shiong-trump
Antonio Vargas, R. (2025, January 4). Washington Post cartoonist resigns over paper’s refusal to publish cartoon critical of Jeff Bezos. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jan/04/washington-post-cartoonist-resigns-jeff-bezos
Reich, R. (2025, February 27). Three billionaires: America’s oligarchy is now fully exposed. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/27/america-billionaires-bezos-zuckerberg-musk
Williams, A. (2025, January 20). Nearly $1 trillion in net worth: Tech titans gather at Trump’s inauguration. Fox News. https://www.livenowfox.com/news/billionaires-trump-inauguration-2025
| i | This is the website of Dr Emilie J. Rutledge who, with almost two decades’ worth of experience in managing, designing and delivering university-level economics courses, is currently Head of the Economics Department at The Open University.
 erutledge.com  Dr Emilie J. Rutledge Emilie has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and is the author of “Monetary Union in the Gulf.” Her current research focus is on employability, the feasibility of universal basic incomes and, the oil-rich Arabian Gulf’s economic diversification and labour market reform strategies. On an ad hoc basis, Emilie provides consultancy on developing interactive university courses, alongside analytical insight on the political-economy of the Arabian Gulf. |