With a combined net worth of over $450 billion, the tech titans who have arrived in President Trump’s inner circle — including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, investor David Sacks and Elon Musk — are poised to disrupt Washington with their focus on innovation and deregulation.
They have their sights set on everything from defense contracts for new drones and lasers to venture-backed medical innovation.
We brought together POLITICO’s emerging tech reporter Derek Robertson with Business Insider reporters Madeline Berg and Peter Kafka to dissect what this means for Washington.
READ MORE: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/29/trumps-billionaire-cabinet-upend-washington-00201019
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:19 - Elon Musk, David Sacks, Jared Isaacman, and Linda McMahon
02:51 - Conflicts of interest
04:14 - Elon Musk and AI
05:37 - Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Tim Cook as donors to Trump’s inaugural fund
07:26 - Billionaires versus Washington bureaucracy
09:19 - Stephen Feinberg in military and defense
10:40 - Neuralink and health technology
12:10 - Future of crypto policy
14:20 - What might Congress do with taxes?
15:06 - Economic inequality in America
15:49 - Billionaires and the Republican Party
16:44 - Upsides to billionaires in politics?
18:33 - End credits