Billionaires literally buying up Washington DC

Now that the billionaire class has installed their President and seized many posts in the Trump cabal, they are fighting over a limited supply of mansions close to the throne.

“In this 1831 lithograph, Honoré Daumier depicted King Louis Philippe as Gargantua, sitting on his throne, consuming a continuous diet of tribute fed to him by various bureaucrats, dignitaries, and bourgeoisie, while defecating a steady stream of titles, awards, and medals in return. Daumier was prosecuted in 1832 for this unflattering depiction of the King.”1

 

Trump has appointed this claque of billionaires and multimillionaires to his administration2

  • Elon Musk, Department of Government Efficiency co-head: $439 billion
  • Leandro Rizzuto Jr., Ambassador to the Organization of American States: $3.5 billion
  • Warren Stephens, Ambassador to the United Kingdom: $3.4 billion
  • Linda McMahon, Education Secretary: Up to $3 billion
  • Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary: $2.2 billion
  • Charles Kushner, Ambassador to France: $1.8 billion
  • Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator: $1.8 billion
  • Thomas Barrack Jr., Ambassador to Turkey: $1 billion
  • Steven Witkoff, Special Envoy to the Middle East: $1 billion
  • Frank Bisiganano, Social Security Administration Commissioner: $1 billion
  • Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary: Reported billionaire
  • Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency co-head: $1 billion
  • David Sacks, AI and Crypto Czar: Net worth unknown
  • Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of Small Business Administration: $800 million
  • Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary: $100 million
  • Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: $100 million

Meanwhile, the NYTimes reports in an article dated 1.19.2025, “A Trump Oligarchy Is Moving to Washington and Buying Up Prime Addresses,” that there is a shortage of suitable billionaire palaces in and around Washington to house the tsunami of wealthy hangers-on to the Trump cabal. The article mentions some of the prices: $25 million, $7 million, $10.5 million, $23 million, $13 million, $15 million, and others.

David Rubenstein, the billionaire co-founder of the private equity Carlyle Group, quoted in the article, summed up the real context of this lust for DC mansions:

“Big donors, he said, “would like to get the policies they believe in from the federal government — more oil drilling, easier antitrust policy, more favorable crypto policy, less bank oversight. They also want more support for helping American companies invest overseas, and have ready access to government officials.”

Washington housing, he said, was also a relative bargain for them. “If you want to buy a home in New York or Southampton, a really good house, it could cost $100 million to $150 million,” he said. “You can’t spend $25 million in Washington even if you try.”

 

Footnotes

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel#/media/File:Honoré_Daumier_-_Gargantua.jpg
  2. https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-tapped-unprecedented-13-billionaires-top-administration-roles/story?id=116872968