During his tenure as President of the United States, Donald Trump’s evenings as a public servant were based on a set routine. When he went to bed at 6:30 p.m. with the giant hamburger and the bucket of Diet Coke, with the vanity TVs tuned to “the channels that talk about me,” Trump loved nothing more than chatting on the phone with this or that billionaire . He would complain, he would swear, he would divulge things, and when they finally ended the call, the billionaire on the other end would immediately call one of the other billionaires to laugh about it all behind his back . “What a fucking idiot,” Rupert Murdoch once commented after finishing a call with Trump in which Murdoch had to explain that in reality the Silicon Valley elite did not “need” the help of Trump, as Trump imagined, after spending eight years in power. they “virtually ran” the Obama administration. Obviously, Murdoch is a notorious idiot; almost the Regina George (from “Mean Girls”) of everything. But, obviously also, he was one of those special guys who was officially given “cleared to call” status in the Trump White House, meaning they could contact him at any time. Plastic meets plastic.
So even as I enjoy all the miles of complex, in-depth reporting wondering what the current generation of billionaires who support him want from Trump, I can’t help but remember a comment from the tech billionaire from “Succession” who is trying to seek business from the American power and attends a pre-election party. “I thought these people would be very complicated,” he muses. “But that’s not the case. “Basically, it’s just money and gossip.” “Oh yeah, that’s all there is,” is the response. “Money and gossip”.
