Pearl River      How times change.  President Eisenhower in his farewell famously warned us of the insidious power of the “military-industrial complex.”  President Biden in his swan song warned us about the emergence of oligarchy.  Given the dearth of civic education these days, the Washington Post even thought it necessary to run a short course on who and what is an oligarch.

Showing some prudent judgement, they refrained from parsing to carefully where the owner of the Post, Jeff Bezos might fall on that scale.  They were careful to distinguish the megarich, where stands near the top, with the full-blown oligarch.  Being richer than Croesus is important, but does not qualify your average run of the mill billionaire into the oligarchy or earn a footnote in Biden’s speech.  Trying to influence public policy here and abroad and have the ear of the President or other national leaders though will definitely earn you an oligarch’s letter jacket.   Well, yes, the fact that Bezos pulled the Post’s endorsement of Harris, might look like he’s warming up to enter the oligarch ranks, and likely is part of the crowd covered in Biden’s warning, but he’s not first string yet.

Now, Elon Musk, that’s another story.  He’s definitely the leader of the that pack.  Of course, he’s absurdly rich, and likely a world topper in that category, but he has mastered some tricks that even the Russian oligarchs who almost single handedly revived this bad club never thought appropriate.  When Louisiana Senator and former Governor Huey Long was in his heyday locally and nationally, his chief adviser and organizer was Gerald L. K. Smith, who later became famous in his own right on the far religious right.  Smith would literally sleep at the foot of Long’s bed.  Musk has virtually taken up residency at Mar-de-Largo between the election and the inauguration, so he could be in Trump’s ear and at his beck and call.  He’s likely trying to put in extra fiber optic cables in the White House’s Lincoln bedroom, but this hasn’t been independently verified yet.  His almost quarter billion dollar buy-in on Trump’s campaign probably more than covers his rent at both the country club and the White House.

Looking at Musk’s recent exploits, might help define the kind of thing oligarch does as an independent, unaccountable player swishing their money and weight around the political world.  When the House came to a deal on funding the government, he took to his personal megaphone on Twitter-X and leveraged Trump into scuttling the deal.  Not satisfied with trying to be co-president in the United States, he has weighed in for far-right parties in Germany and the United Kingdom.  In perhaps the most dangerous exploit, though underreported in the way that oligarchs get away with one outrage after another, he seems to have been the x-factor in behind the scenes bargaining to release a Italian journalist detained in Iran by facilitating a hostage exchange for a prisoner in Italy who had bombed a US military installation.  All of this without coordination with the US and expressly in opposition to US policy against the prisoner’s release.  He’s also chatty with Putin, reported as a possible purchaser of TikTok who would be seen favorably by China, where he’s also got buddies, and at different times both an aid and an obstacle in Ukraine and other countries.  This can’t well, because it’s already going so badly.

Worse, and this is part of Biden’s caution, other superrich, especially the tech team from Silicon Valley, are mimicking the Musk model.  They’re kissing the ring and licking the boot.  Traipsing off to Mar-de-Largo, ponying up for the inauguration, and trying to get on the dance card and receiving line for the after parties other than the ones they are hosting themselves.

It’s one thing when they are featured in TV shows like “lives of the rich and famous,” but Biden is right to warn all America when they try to make the White House, their house, and the US government little more than a tool of their whims, wishes, and self-interest.