have you heard this word lately that's been bandied about oligarchs autocrats dictators Aristocrats in other words that supposedly a small cabal of very wealthy people have snatched control of the government and the Democrats as the loyal opposition of the fighting middle class is trying to stop it but they're using all of these terms to castigate the relationship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump but here's what's ironic we didn't hear any of this during the Obama year years during the Clinton years or during the Biden years in other words for 20 years no one may mention that the country was controlled by [Music] oligarchs hello this is Victor Davis Hansen for the daily signal have you heard this word lately that's been bandied about oligarchs aut rats uh dictators but mostly uh Aristocrats in other words that supposedly a small cabal of very wealthy people have snatched control of the government and the Democrats as the loyal opposition of the fighting middle class is trying to stop it they use the word plutocrats oligarchs just from the Greek word the rule by the few plutocrat means the rule by the wealthy Aristocrat means ruled by the so-called best or those people who claim they're better born but they're using all of these terms to castigate apparently the relationship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump but here's what's ironic we didn't hear any of this during the Obama years during the Clinton years or during the Biden years in other words for 20 years no one made mentioned that the country was controlled by oligarchs let me just look at the list for you of the 10 wealthiest people in the United States Elon Musk Jeff Bezos Mark zukerberg warrren Buffett Larry pagee sergy Bren Larry Ellison Bill Gates Mike Bloomberg they all have one thing in common they're all worth over a hundred billion and until recently I would say the 2024 election they were all against the Republican party and were lavish donors for the Democrats why they're angry now is because Jeff bezos's Washington Post which was a vehicle a money losing but still influential influential vehicle for leftist and Democratic agendas decided not to endorse either Cala Harris nor Donald Trump Elon Musk who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 when he was uh beloved by the left because of Tesla because of SpaceX because of neurolink because of starlink also according to what he said voted for Joe Biden in 2020 Mark zukerberg remember put four $419 million in his various packs to absorb the work of registar to great effect in the 2020 election Mike Bloomberg probably has the record single record he used1 billion dollar to try to capture the 2020 Democratic primary nomination $1 billion so why why are they why are they so angry at the oligarchs when the oligarchs were synonymous with Democrats and I should point out that George Soros put in $125 million in the 2022 midterms he has the all-time record it's it's assumed that he has spent 22 billion dollar for left-wing candidates and left-wing packs and leftwing foundations Sam bankman freed the Felon he put over $100 million in the 200 from 2020 to 2022 all on the side of Democrats and left-wing candidates his mother was a bundler bundler a stealthy bundler for billionaires in Silicon Valley so what's going on and in the one last piece of one last data point in the 20 24 election cycle the Biden campaign the Harris campaign and the Trump Campaign together raised 4.7 billion billion dollars but guess what the Democrats raised $1 billion dollar more than did Trump so what is going on there is an anger now that for the first time in 20 years over three administrations Clinton Obama and Biden for the first time there are multi-billionaires who are starting to question their Democratic loyalty Larry Allison Elon Musk Mark zukerberg perhaps even Jeff Bezos most billionaires are still on the side of the left but they don't tolerate any apostates so they're angry they don't have a lock a lock on the oligarch so to speak I'll just finish with one reflection why did they start to bolt because the Democratic party was so sure of the support of billionaires they started making demands upon them and saying you're going to give this amount of money and if you want to play ball with us this is the Monopoly that will control artificial intelligence you are included you're not we're going to get the FBI to part partner with you Mark zukerberg and meta Facebook to make sure you ban information injures to the Biden campaign you Twitter the old Twitter you're going to have FBI and they revolted and Donald Trump came along and said I welcome all of you because I'm not going to tell you who to vote for what to do but I'm going to look at you in a nationalist populist manner you are the William nson the Henry Fords the Henry Kaisers of the war production board in other words I'm going to go to B for you so that you do not have your wealth confiscated in China so that people in Europe do not impose special taxes on you just because you're making too much money or try to censor your news in other words I'm going to try to enlist you on behalf of the country in a patriotic nationalist fashion and they found that argument more persuasive than they did you better give to us and this is who you're what you're going to do and as a result 30% of the billionaires bolted and are either now neutral are they favor the Republicans the vast majority to repeat still favor Democrats the Democratic party is the party of the very wealthy plutocracy and the billionaire class but they demand absolute loyalty and solidarity and any defections or apostates then uh cause them to go I I I don't know what the word is ballistic that anybody would doubt uh their ability to control the big money in the United States big money in the United States is a democratic phenomenon thank you very much this is Victor Davis Hansen for the daily signal thank you for watching today's podcast and for more news like that subscribe to the Daily signal and maybe you can check out my own website at Victor son.com for podcast lectures Ultra Series behind a pay wall but more importantly just daily columns that are accessible and free to everyone thank you very much