Buy an Elephant: How American Politics became a Battleground for the Rich
Harsh criticism of wealthy Americans has become the know-how of American politics. Such rhetoric began to sound especially insistent with the advent of Donald Trump in big politics. Musk, Trump himself, some other Trumpists and supporters of the "Make America Great Again" movement actively and often criticize rich Americans, noting their harmful and increased influence on US politics. The problem of the so-called dark money of the American elite is especially often dealt with, that is, funds that are spent on lobbying politics and which cannot be traced and taken into account in statistics. Read more about this phenomenon in the Izvestia article.
Knights and Merchants
On November 23, billionaire Elon Musk once again attacked the sponsors of American politics. He accused them of financing lenient sentences for criminals, calling it an "incredibly cruel double disgrace" for the political system, noting that the rich manipulate the justice system to the detriment of America.
Elon Musk
On November 21, The influential Washington Post published an article with the headline "How Billionaires Captured American Politics." "The concentration of wealth among the richest Americans is unparalleled in history, as is the influence of billionaires in politics," the authors of the leading American newspaper of the United States write.
According to the Post, in 2000, the 100 richest Americans donated about 0.25% of the total cost of all elections. By 2024, they have covered about 10% of election expenses. And this is despite the sharp increase in the cost of the elections themselves. That is, today, about $1 out of every $10 spent on national elections was donated by a small handful of the richest people in the country. In short, American politics is becoming the business of ultra-rich billionaires.
During the election campaign, Trump repeatedly accused "radical leftist billionaires" of financing "chaos" on the border and in cities, saying they were bribing politicians to "destroy the American dream." At a rally in Pennsylvania on September 29 last year, he said: "These elites in Washington and New York, these rich liberals, they hate you — working Americans. They raise prices, open borders for illegal immigrants to take away your jobs, and force you to pay taxes that stifle your business. I will close this shop!"
In November, Trump wrote that he would return trillions of dollars to the pockets of Americans, not to the yachts of these billionaire traitors. In April 2025, as president, Trump criticized Hollywood billionaires and liberal tech moguls for censorship and support for chaos. "These rich celebrities in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley fly on private jets, avoid taxes, and you pay for their green agenda," he said.
Power for the rich
American politics has always been the politics of the rich. From the earliest years of American statehood, the founding fathers saw the new republic as a democracy where rich white men held power. However, over time, the situation began to change. Today, in the political system of the United States, wealthy citizens and large corporate structures play a significant role, influencing the decision-making process and shaping the political agenda. First, American election campaigns are extremely expensive, and candidates rely heavily on the financial support of wealthy donors who exert influence through direct donations. In recent years, the so—called Super pacs, political activity committees, have begun to play a special role. These organizations, which are not directly related to parties and candidates, collect unlimited amounts and spend them on promoting their clients and denigrating competitors. This is a relatively new phenomenon that has had a significant impact on the course of election campaigns. And most importantly, they are not controlled by anyone. Secondly, rich people and corporations actively use lobbying as a tool to influence the legislative process.
Professional lobbyists promote profitable solutions, participate in drafting bills, and provide access to lawmakers. The third factor is the privileged access of wealthy people to the political elite: High incomes allow them to participate in private events, organize fundraisers and use social connections, which helps to promote their issues on the agenda. In addition, many politicians are millionaires themselves and have the opportunity to partially or fully finance their own campaigns, which creates a structural advantage for rich candidates over less affluent rivals.
Research shows that political decisions in the United States more often reflect the interests of rich and influential groups than the positions of the middle- or low-income population, which increases concerns about the formation of elements of plutocracy. The influence of very rich people on American politics has been increasing in recent years, and this is confirmed by investigations and analysis in the American media and research centers. Thus, The Washington Post notes a record increase in the contribution of the super-rich to the 2024 campaign: according to the publication, the 100 richest Americans financed a significant share of the costs of the federal election.
The money of the rich and the worry of the poor
At the same time, opinion polls show widespread concern among citizens about the role of money in politics and support for restrictions on political spending, which adds political pressure to the possibility of reform, but institutional and judicial barriers make it difficult to quickly adjust the rules. According to Americans for Tax Fairness, billionaires' spending on federal elections increased from about $88 million in 2016 to about $1 billion in 2020 and reached a record $2.6 billion in the 2024 election cycle. At the same time, the flow of "dark money" has increased: if in 2020 anonymous independent spending amounted to about $1 billion, then in 2024 it reached about $1.9 billion, according to estimates by the Brennan Center. Total federal election spending has also increased, from about $7 billion in 2016 to $14.4 billion in 2020 and about $14.7 billion in 2024, according to Bloomberg.
As of November 2025, the most influential wealthy Americans in US politics remain Miriam Adelson with a fortune of about $ 32 billion, the largest donor in the country's history, Elon Musk with a fortune of more than $420 billion, Michael Bloomberg with $ 106 billion, the main donor to the Democrats, the former mayor of New York, who invested tens of millions in campaigns against Trump.. Billionaires Ken Griffin, Timothy Mellon, Jeff Yass, George Soros and his son Alex, Tom Steyer, Paul Singer, Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, Larry Ellison, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are also among the largest figures in American politics. Over the past 10 years, at least 44 American billionaires have held government positions.
In an interview with Izvestia, Michael Rubin, a senior researcher at the influential American Enterprise Institute who advises the White House and Republicans, emphasized the complexity of this phenomenon and referred to a quote from Winston Churchill: "There is no ideal formula. Americans always do the right thing—they just try everything else first."
In his opinion, the main problem is that Americans consider money to be a manifestation of freedom, including freedom of speech.
— If an American billionaire takes certain issues seriously and can afford to donate to organizations, why shouldn't he have the right to do so? The Americans and Washington are solving this problem through transparency laws: all donations for political purposes and the financing of various political action committees require reporting. Then people will be able to see who is behind a particular group or television advertisement. That's why we know so much about who, for example, George and Alex Soros give money to," the expert said.
Michael Rubin also notes that the problem is that it is difficult to identify a judge. "Who will determine who can be a candidate and which parties are legitimate and therefore eligible to receive money?" he rightly asks.
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