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Ezra Klein
By Ezra Klein
opinion columnist
There is nothing new about the challenge of cash in politics. We have been warned for decades that the United States is or is adjusting an oligarchy. But any other at the beginning of President Trump’s period of momentum, and I think it’s this: attention, and not cash, is the form of force that interests him most.
Many of his billionaire supporters were undecided at his inauguration. The catbirds’ seats were occupied by the titans of attention. They are the executives of Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Amazon, and Google that Trump so badly wants to see appear before him. .
Washington is filled with lobbying offices and fund-raisers because powerful interests believe something is gained when dollars are spent. They are right. We have come to expect and accept a grotesque level of daily corruption in American politics — abetted by a series of Supreme Court rulings that give money the protections of speech and by congressional Republicans who have fought even modest campaign finance reforms. But we have at least some rules to limit money’s power in politics and track its movements.
You can’t say the same of attention. If Trump Salva Tiktok and, in return, Tiktok drives the pro-trump content before the 2026 elections to go viral, would that be illegal? Maybe. But do we even know that this had happened? If Elon Musk turns the dials to
Attention, not money, is now the fuel of American politics. It seemed transparent in 2022 that Musk overpaid when he acquired Twitter for $44 billion. And if you judge an industry salesperson, he probably overpaid. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter made him the world’s top hard user, for perhaps Trump. How valuable is he?
Oligarchy isn’t mere corruption. It describes what happens when wealth becomes intertwined with rulership. Musk is not just seeking contracts or favors; he is seeking influence and centrality. He is offering Trump not just money but also attention. And Trump has been happy, at least so far, to make that trade. Past presidents have had their wealthy backers, and those backers have won access and even spoils, but we had not seen as clear a trade for power in the modern era. And in making that trade so publicly, Musk and Trump have opened a path that other attention oligarchs may well want to walk.
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