Donald Trump’s Big Billionaire Club of a Cabinet is the Oligarchy Bernie Sanders Warned of

Donald Trump campaigned on draining the swamp and to great effect. Millions flocked to Trump and his campaign to show their dissatisfaction with the path the country is on and the state of politics as usual. Looking at his cabinet it’s not clear what exactly Trump meant when he called to drain the swamp, because each and every nominee could be described as a swamp monster in their own right.

First, there was Goldman Sachs executive and foreclosure baron, Steven Mnuchin. Goldman Sachs has been used a lot to fear monger against bad financial products lately and as an institution they’ve probably hurt the middle class more than they have helped. That said, Mnuchin’s involvement with Goldman is one of the least problematic things on his legacy.

During the recession Mnuchin was a vulture capitalist of sorts, who would swoop in and buy failing financial institutions and run them into the ground at the expense of average Americans. All while turning a profit for himself and upper level executives. Most notably as CEO and chairman of OneWest Bank Mnuchin committed basically every cardinal sin someone in an upper level financial capacity could commit. Carefree foreclosures at twice the rate of similar institutions over literally dollars and targeting minority customers with red lining was the norm.

Mnuchin carried out these predatory financial practices with great success, eventually selling off OneWest Bank in 2015 to the tune of $3.4 billion dollars, and $97 million in stock from CIT group which he sold OneWest too.

And that’s just one multi-millionaire, on to the billionaires.

There is also Betsy Devos the Republican mega-donor turned potential Department of Education head. During confirmation hearings when questioned by Bernie Sanders prodded and asked if the “estimated $200 million dollars her family has contributed to the Republican Party” is an accurate figure. To which Devos replied it certainly could be a reasonable figure. And like most mega-donors the fabulously wealthy Devos family didn’t just drop $200 million dollars for no reason.

They have always expected a return on invest and originally it wasn’t supposed to be in the form of direct appointment to an incredibly influential cabinet appointment. For decades the Devos family has poured money into the Republican Party in an attempt to privatize public education by shifting funding to private school vouchers. Although she didn’t admit it during her confirmation hearing, it was her family’s main motivation and it’s hard to believe those statements during that hearing were anything but politics.

Then comes Commerce Secretary nominee, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross. For over two decades Ross managed, per Forbes, “Rothschild Inc’s bankruptcy practice before starting investment firm WL Ross & Co in 2000.” As head of WL Ross & Co the firm practiced various sorts of vulture investing, much like Mnuchin, Ross would swoop in, buy failing companies and walk off with a hefty profit somewhere down the line. Unlike Mnuchin, Ross’s record is a lot more mixed and some unions and labor organizations have some positive things to say about him.

That said, Ross was not afraid to export jobs overseas in order to gain short term profits for stockholders.

The entire cabinet and almost everyone around Donald Trump is a multi-millionaire who almost certainly are not in tune with the needs of average Americans. There is also Ben Carson, worth an estimated $26 million. Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson reportedly owns over $200 million in Exxon Mobil stock. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao brings another $20 million. And it doesn’t end there.

The list of incredibly wealthy people intimately tied to the Trump administration could be much, much, longer. Wealth might not be a set in stone requirement and it has to be said that people at this level of national government tend to come with some assets, but Donald Trump’s cabal of billionaires is not average upper echelons of government levels of wealth. His cabinet is excessively wealthy, that alone separates their interests from the average American, but these billionaires in particular have interests diametrically opposed to lifting all boats.

Unfortunately, these people got where they are today by disregarding the interests of the average American and it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon.