I think what sets billionaire "good guys" like Trump and Elon apart is that they understand the importance of aspiration and freedom of innovation to continued prosperity.

The rest of the elite, even the first-generation, self-made ones like Bill Gates seem obsessed with the idea of consolidating their position by eradicating the middle class. If they destroy people's freedom to innovate, and their ability to be self-sufficient without depending on the elite, they believe they can ensure there will never again be anyone who can dislodge them or compete with them. Only a very few, Trump included, understand that everyone's continued prosperity, including that of the super rich, depends on the freedom to innovate, and that can't exist without a free market of ideas. Not to mention that the elite will never be safe from the underclass without the promise of aspiration: if people don't feel they have any avenue to improve their circumstances and ensure a better future for their children, they will rapidly come to the conclusion that they have nothing to lose.

Trump has some pretty silly ideas, and he wasn't as effective in office as he could have been, but what draws people to him that he clearly and obviously values the same things about American and Western society that ordinary, non-elite people value, and that sets him apart from almost every other billionaire and politician.

I think what sets billionaire "good guys" like Trump and Elon apart is that they understand the imortance of aspiration and freedom of innovation to continued prosperity.

The rest of the elite, even the first-generation, self-made ones like Bill Gates seem obsessed with the idea of consolidating their position by eradicating the middle class. If they destroy people's freedom to innovate, and their ability to be self-sufficient without depending on the elite, they believe they can ensure there will never again be anyone who can dislodge them or compete with them. Only a very few, Trump included, understand that everyone's continued prosperity, including that of the super rich, depends on the freedom to innovate, and that can't exist without a free market of ideas. Not to mention that the elite will never be safe from the underclass without the promise of aspiration: if people don't feel they have any avenue to improve their circumstances and ensure a better future for their children, they will rapidly come to the conclusion that they have nothing to lose.

Trump has some pretty silly ideas, and he wasn't as effective in office as he could have been, but what draws people to him that he clearly and obviously values the same things about American and Western society that ordinary, non-elite people value, and that sets him apart from almost every other billionaire and politician.

I think what sets billionaire "good guys" like Trump and Elon apart is that they understand the imortance of aspiration and freedom of innovation to continued prosperity.

The rest of the elite, even the first-generation, self-made ones like Bill Gates seem obsessed with the idea of consolidating their position by eradicating the middle class. If they destroy people's freedom to innovate, and their ability to be self-sufficient without depending on the elite, they believe they can ensure there will never again be anyone who can dislodge them or compete with them. Only a very few, Trump included, understand that everyone's continued prosperity, including that of the super rich, depends on the freedom to innovate, and that can't exist without a free market of ideas. Trump has some pretty silly ideas, and he wasn't as effective in office as he could have been, but what draws people to him that he clearly and obviously values the same things about American and Western society that ordinary, non-elite people value, and that sets him apart from almost every other billionaire and politician.