The question of an oligarchy stems from former president Biden's farewell speech, warning of a potential oligarchy forming right under our noses, but does this claim have any real basis to stand on? Many back this claim based on sightings of multiple tech billionaires at Trump's inauguration. These individuals include Mark Zuckerberg, who previously opposed Trump until changing his view just months after Trump threatened that he would "spend the rest of his life in prison". This raises concerns as to how close billionaires really are to the government, this looks even worse when you consider that the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is working very closely with President Trump and is making significant changes in our government, many oppose this, stating that because Elon Musk is both not an elected representative of the people but also because he is a foreign citizen of the United States. Since Trump has been in office, Elon Musk has headed the new "Department of Government Efficiency", or "DOGE" for short, a play on the Doge Coin cryptocurrency previously endorsed by Elon. Many oppose DOGE, believing that its sweeping government cuts are bogus and are misconstrued to the public to seem like useless spending when it is real, non-fraudulent spending. One example is the claim that USAID is funding "Sesame Street in Iraq". This claim comes from confusing a show that features Sesame Street characters titled "Ahlan Simsim" with an early childhood development program by the same name. This is a program targeted at children in combat zones. Billionaires' involvement in the government isn't anything new, of course, with several backing the campaign of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. One such person is George Soros, who often donates to liberal causes and who received a Medal of Freedom from Biden. With billionaires affecting politics on both sides of the spectrum, do you think they are too heavily involved in our government? Are Elon Musk and DOGE actually saving us money, or is it all fake?
Sources: https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/02/20/sesame-street-usaid-iraq/
https://whyy.org/episodes/trump-musk-bezos-oligarchy/
Replies
Great topic choice and well done Kayden. Be sure to use paragraphs to better effect. This was posted three days late.
Elon Musk's DOGE program claims it's saving the government billions, but a lot of experts say those numbers might be fake or blown out of proportion. Some of the "savings" are just canceled contracts or things that weren't actually paid for yet. There's also confusion with Dogecoin, and scammers have been using Musk's name to trick people. So while it sounds impressive, it might not be as real as it seems.
I think an oligarchy might be forming in the United States because really rich people and big companies have a lot of influence on the government. They donate tons of money to politicians and sometimes it feels like regular people don't have much of a say. It seems like the rich have more control than they should.
I wanna clarify the title, it originally started as a post about billionaires getting closer to the government and a possible oligarchy but ended up being more about doge and Elon musk
I believe with the new DOGE system being headed by Elon makes it seem like billionaires could possibly be more involved in politics in the future, even leading to an oligarchy. Although I think right now the U.S. is still far from becoming an oligarchy.
I agree, doge is absolutely a good idea but has to be executed right and in the interest of the people, but when they say misleading things that they are cutting like the "Iraq sesame Street" or "transgender mice" they test their own credibility, many claims of theirs have been disproven and it weakens the trust many have in the government when these claims are almost lies with the ways they are worded. However, some of the cuts are a matter of opinion, I am left leaning so I'm a little biased, what I see and a bogus cut could be seen as something much needed to somebody on the right
Forgot to answer this but currently the DOGE program is far from helping with our national debt, but in the long run I think it will become a very crucial part of our government in keeping us from so much spending.
I agree, I think that DOGE has a lot of work to do on many things, but they can build their way up if they get the right ideas. I think that a few right ideas could really help out our economy in the upcoming and furture years.
I agree, Doge has the potential to be really great for our country, but I also believe that Elon musk is the wrong person for the job, the divide between the ultra rich and the regular working class is far too wide and he cannot truly act in the interests of the people without the experiences of the lower to middle classes