Trump’s administration is substantially characterized by aggrandizement—particularly the concentration of wealth and power among ultra-wealthy elites. While the administration employs populist messaging that resonates with working-class frustrations, the actual policy implementation and outcomes reveal a systematic pattern of upward wealth redistribution that contradicts the stated goal of revitalizing middle America.
The most visible indicator of prioritized aggrandizement is the composition of Trump’s administration itself. The cabinet represents the wealthiest in U.S. history, with a collective net worth of $460 billion and over a dozen billionaires serving in senior positions. This includes prominent figures like Elon Musk, who has gained unprecedented influence over government through his leadership of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” and tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos who have achieved prominence in Trump’s orbit. Political scientists have characterized this arrangement as demonstrating executive aggrandizement operating at three interrelated levels: establishing presidential supremacy within the executive branch, making the executive branch dominant over other government institutions, and weakening societal constraints on executive power.[1][2][3]
Tax Policy: Wealth Concentration Disguised as Middle Class Relief
Trump’s tax policies exemplify the gap between populist rhetoric and oligarchic reality. During his first term, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017—promoted as relief for working families—disproportionately benefited wealthy Americans. Analysis by the Tax Policy Center revealed that 83% of the law’s benefits accrued to the top 1% of earners, with middle-income households experiencing minimal tax relief. By 2027, the benefits of that law will be entirely to the wealthy, as middle-class provisions were temporary while corporate tax cuts were permanent.[4][5]
The disparity becomes more stark when examining specific dollar amounts. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities calculated that the richest 1% of Americans saw their taxes reduced by an average of $61,090 under the TCJA, while the poorest 20% received only $70 in tax relief. In percentage terms, the after-tax income of the richest 5% increased by approximately 3%, while the poorest 20% saw their after-tax income grow by just 0.4%.[6]
Trump’s 2025 tax legislation continues this pattern. The top 0.1% receive an average tax break exceeding $300,000, while the lowest-income households actually see their taxes increase. Simultaneously, the administration pursues massive spending cuts to public programs like Medicaid and food assistance that millions of families depend upon for basic security.[2]
Tariffs: A Regressive Tax on Working People
Trump’s tariff policies, framed as bringing manufacturing jobs home and protecting American workers, function as a consumption tax that disproportionately harms the middle and working classes. A Yale Budget Lab analysis found that Trump’s tariff regime could push an additional 875,000 Americans into poverty by 2026, including 375,000 children. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated that the poorest 20% of Americans will experience a 4.8% average tax increase due to tariffs, while the richest 5% will see only a 1.2% tax reduction.[7][6]
This regressive impact occurs because lower-income households spend a significantly larger proportion of their income on consumer goods, food, and basic necessities—categories heavily impacted by tariffs on Chinese, Mexican, and Canadian imports. Wealthy Americans, with substantial savings and investments, remain largely insulated from tariff-driven inflation.[7][6]
Conflicts of Interest and Personal Enrichment
Beyond policy outcomes, Trump’s personal business dealings reveal aggrandizement as a governing principle. Trump has failed to divest from his business interests, creating extensive conflicts of interest as president. His administration records show systematic patterns of self-dealing: Trump visits his properties hundreds of times while taxpayers fund Secret Service protection; foreign governments and special interests hold lavish events at Trump properties to gain access and influence; and Trump uses his presidential platform to continuously promote his hotels, golf courses, and resorts.[8]
More egregiously, specific instances document direct personal enrichment from presidential power: Trump pardoned the founder of Binance after the company engaged in business talks with the Trump family and boosted their crypto venture; he launched a memecoin ($TRUMP) days before inauguration while the SEC declined to regulate it; he opened a new golf course in Scotland subsidized by American taxpayers; and he held White House events exclusively for major holders of his memecoin, effectively auctioning presidential access.[8]
Rhetorical Populism Versus Actual Policy Outcomes
The disconnect between Trump’s populist messaging and oligarchic governance is fundamental. Trump framed his presidency around channeling “middle class pain” into political action, claiming that globalist elites had abandoned workers. Yet his actual policies systematically transfer resources from the middle and working classes to ultra-wealthy elites and mega-corporations.[9][2]
Political scientists have documented this pattern comprehensively. A 2015 study by Princeton’s Martin Gilens and Northwestern’s Benjamin Page analyzing 1,800 policy proposals over 30 years found that America functions as a functional oligarchy where political outcomes overwhelmingly favor wealthy people and corporations while ordinary citizens’ influence is “at a near-zero level”. Trump’s administration represents this oligarchic tendency made explicitly visible, with billionaires openly wielding executive power and shaping policy to benefit their own interests.[3]
Long-Term Middle Class Deterioration
The broader context reveals that middle class expansion has been deteriorating across decades, independent of Trump’s policies—but Trump’s administration actively accelerates this decline rather than reversing it. The middle class share of national income declined from over 60% in 1970 to just 43% by 2022. Young men today earn less than their fathers did at the same age, reversing the post-WWII upward mobility that defined the American Dream. Production workers and white men without college degrees, core Trump supporters, experienced a dramatic loss of status relative to college-educated workers across the globotics shock era (globalization plus automation).[9]
Rather than implementing policies to reverse this structural decline, Trump’s administration pursues strategies that exacerbate it: cutting social safety nets, reducing corporate regulation to favor monopolies, pursuing consumption taxes (tariffs) that burden working families most heavily, and maintaining tax structures that allow billionaires to pay lower effective rates than teachers and retail workers.[10][11][2][6]
The Trump administration is fundamentally characterized by aggrandizement—the concentration of wealth, power, and decision-making authority among ultra-wealthy elites operating within a framework of oligarchic governance. While populist rhetoric promises middle class restoration and protection from globalist elites, actual policy implementation systematically transfers resources upward, weakens institutional checks on executive power, and constrains the economic mobility and opportunity of working and middle-class Americans. The administration’s composition of billionaire cabinet members, its self-dealing business conflicts, and its regressive economic policies collectively indicate that aggrandizement—not middle class expansion—represents the administration’s defining characteristic.
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- https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/08/us-democratic-backsliding-in-comparative-perspective?lang=en
- https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/economic-justice/is-the-us-witnessing-the-rise-of-oligarchy/
- https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policycast/oligarchy-open-what-happens-now-us-forced-confront-its-plutocracy
- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-policies-trump-first-term-120028589.html
- https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-middle-class-needs-a-tax-cut-trump-didnt-give-it-to-them/
- https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/03/30/populism-trump-rich-billionaires-taxes/
- https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/business/trump-trade-prices-poverty-report
- https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/tracking-trumps-visits-to-his-properties-and-other-conflicts-of-interest/
- https://rbaldwin.substack.com/p/the-middle-class-anger-behind-trumps
- http://nationalpartnership.org/5-ways-trump-administration-eroding-economic-stability-black-women-pathways-middle-class/
- https://populardemocracyinaction.org/publication/trumps-corporate-oligarchs-billionaires-cash-in-while-working-people-pay-the-price/
- https://www.americanprogress.org/article/trumps-trade-war-squeezes-middle-class-manufacturing-employment/
- https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/economic-justice/how-is-the-trump-administration-deepening-inequality/
- https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/trump-administration-accomplishments/
- https://waysandmeans.house.gov/2025/09/29/big-beautiful-success-story-middle-class-biggest-winner-from-working-class-tax-cuts/
- https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/distributional-and-macroeconomic-effects-of-trump-2-0
- https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2025-01-07/trump-wealth-gap-income-inequality
Ron's Musings 