Why Trump Is Going to Have the Swampiest Inauguration Ever
Donald Trump’s second inauguration is turning into an unprecedented pay-to-play extravaganza, oozing with opulence for the monied elite attending and funding the once-in-a-lifetime affair.
Three days of black-tie balls, private candlelit dinners, brunches and backroom lounge conclaves will spotlight a who’s who of the extreme wealth and power that have already come to define the former president’s resurrection.
Government ethicists warn this year’s event marking the constitutional oath of office is an opening ante for lobbyists, politicians, and would-be oligarchs to gain unfettered access to President-elect Trump’s inner sanctum—his children and the plutocrats who will control the executive branch of government.
“This is throwing money at the feet of the president to buy favors,” Craig Holman of Public Citizen told the Daily Beast.
Presidential inaugurations have long been magnets for corporations and special interests to pay for access to the powerbrokers of incoming administrations. Biden’s 2021 inaugural committee, for example, raked in tens of millions from corporate giants such as AT&T, Comcast, Boeing, FedEx, and numerous others. Biden capped donations at $1 million and refused donations from fossil fuel companies, raising about $62 million overall.
Trump’s 2025 inaugural event is on pace to take the quadrennial swampfest to new heights. He has placed no limits on influence peddling. Corporate titans may donate or raise as much money as they’d like for Trump’s inaugural committee, and no class of donor will be turned away. The fund is reportedly projected to raise a record-setting $150 million.
Cashing in on ‘Trump’
Nor has Trump blocked the potential flow of inauguration-related cash to his many for-profit business ventures, which he continues to oversee.
They include event spaces at the Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C.—a short drive up the Potomac River from the White House—which last year hosted a tournament for LIV, the Saudi-backed golf tour. Then there’s a catalog’s worth of retail products, including Trump-branded shoes, cologne, coins, and NFTs, along with a Trump-backed crypto platform, and a “Save America” coffee table book, for sale for $100 on TrumpStore.com.
Even the “2025 Trump inauguration collection” MAGA merchandise—whiskey glasses, hats, t-shirts, cufflinks, and more—being hawked on the nonprofit inaugural committee’s website could benefit Trump personally.
Profits from these sales are divided 80/20 between the Republican National Committee, which has a long history of paying Trump’s personal legal bills in various criminal and civil cases, and Trump’s Never Surrender leadership political action committee—which, by law, is not subject to a “personal use” prohibition as campaign committees are.
“Trump thinks that this interplay is perfectly fine. But it is not good for democracy,” says Morris Pearl, former managing director of the investment firm BlackRock and chairman of Patriotic Millionaires, a group of progressive one-percenters that advocates for taxing the rich. “It’s not what we tell our children in civics class what government should be.”
Crypto and Tech Bro Dough
Major tech moguls or their companies have given $1 million each to the 2025 Trump inaugural fund; Jeff Bezos’ Amazon; Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta; and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Uber and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, on Wednesday both donated $1 million. (That, after giving the same amount to President Joe Biden’s inaugural fund in 2021.)
“This is a clear attempt to curry favor with the new administration and get on Trump’s good side… to secure favorable policies and contracts from them,” Christine Wood, co-director of the pro-democracy Declaration for American Democracy said. “This is a choice that Donald Trump is making, and it says a lot about the ethics of Donald Trump.”
Trump’s inaugural committee and his incoming White House team did not return multiple requests for comment about this article.
Cryptocurrency companies are also giving $1 million donations and, in at least one case, $5 million worth of XRP token to fund the festivities.
Elon Musk, Zuck, Bezos and Altman are among a cavalcade of fellow billionaires who are expected for the tip off of Trump’s second act. They all have massive financial stakes in the next Trump administration, from government contracts and deregulation to major tax breaks.
Bibles and Billions
On Jan. 20, Trump will place his hand upon a Bible—perhaps the “Inauguration Day Edition Bible” he’s now peddling for $69.99 a pop—while simultaneously directing a business empire and leading a nation.
Trump has declared that his inauguration on Jan. 20 will be a “magnificent victory in a celebration of the American People and our nation” that will serve as a “kick-off to my administration, which will deliver on bold promises to Make America Great Again.”
Ultra-millionaires and billionaires are expected to attend, including those Trump has tapped to serve in his administration. Besides Musk, they include: former WWE mogul Linda McMahon (Education secretary); Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick (Commerce); Scott Bessent (Treasury); biotech entrepreneur and one-time presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (DOGE); former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (small business administrator) and real estate tycoon Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who Trump has chosen as ambassador to France.
‘We Invest’
Telecom behemoth AT&T told the Daily Beast it will contribute to Trump’s inauguration, though it declined to say whether it will rival the more than $2 million it gave to Trump’s swearing-in fund in 2017 or the $1 million to Biden’s in 2021.
“AT&T is contributing to the 2025 inaugural celebration as we have done for every inauguration for more than three decades regardless of which party won the White House,” spokesman Alex Byers said. “We invest and prepare our network extensively for events like these.”
Bank of America also confirmed it will donate to Trump’s 2025 inauguration but, like its competitor, declined to specify how much. (It gave $1 million each to Trump’s 2017 inauguration.) Facebook parent Meta, led by Zuckerberg, says it is donating $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration. And Amazon, led by Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, has agreed to stream Trump’s inauguration ceremony live.
‘Temptation for Corruption’
These corporate contributions are a tacit acknowledgement by Zuckerberg and Bezos of their previous battles with Trump. Just three years ago, Meta kicked Trump off its platforms. Things have changed.
“You’re trying to maximize interactions with the incoming administration. The more you give, the more interactions,” ethics and campaign finance attorney Brett Kappel said.
“There’s a huge temptation for corruption,” Wood added.
Corporations game out a significant risk/reward calculus before contributing to Trump’s inauguration, ethics advocates explain.
On one end, they face potential PR fallout from donating big money to a twice-impeached felon loathed by about half of America—one accused of igniting an insurrection and declared civilly liable for fraudulently inflating his net worth and sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. On the other end, they can expect blowback for not donating to the duly elected incoming president, who is wildly loved by about half of America and known for his penchant of skewering companies that don’t conform to his worldview and wishes. (John Deere, General Motors and Facebook rank among recent examples.)
Nothing to See Here
The Daily Beast contacted more than 110 corporations that either have a history of donating to presidential inaugurations or are in upstart industries, such as crypto, AI and digital media, that stand to benefit from Trump administration policies.
Most corporations were unwilling to say whether they’re donating to Trump’s inauguration, and if so, how much they’ll give.
Among those that did not respond to several requests for comment: Verizon, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, TikTok, Koch Industries, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines and defense contractors Boeing and RTX. Lockheed Martin asked what responses other defense contractors gave the Daily Beast before offering no comment itself.
Private prison firms Geo Group and CoreCivic, beverage companies Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, credit card companies Visa and Mastercard, and both the National Football League and MLB’s Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, likewise, ignored inquiries despite having made past inauguration donations.
Other companies offered variations of the theme of “we’re not telling,” including spokespeople for ExxonMobil, Microsoft, MetLife, Southern Company, United Airlines, and American Airlines.
Walmart, JPMorganChase, tax firm Ryan LLC, tobacco giant Altria, private holding company Access Industries and investment company Cannae Holdings—all previously inaugural donors—also declined comment. KraftGroup LLC, the holding company for New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, contributed $1 million to Trump’s 2017 inauguration. But was mum on its plans for the 2025 inauguration.
Hell to Pay
“With Trump, there’s probably more downside to not giving a donation than to giving one,” Pearl of Patriotic Millionaires said.
And with notable donors each giving at least $1 million for Trump’s 2025 inaugural fund, anything else could seem like a slap in the face. Nevertheless, several companies with a history of inaugural giving told the Daily Beast they aren’t planning on giving to Trump’s inaugural this time around.
Wynn Resorts, the casino and entertainment titan, gave more than $700,000 to Trump’s 2017 inauguration. But not this time around. The decision follows the departure in 2018 of the company’s leader Steve Wynn, a Republican Party megadonor who stepped down in 2018 amid accusations of sexual misconduct.
Insurance company Travelers, which contributed $100,000 to Trump’s 2017 inaugural, will not donate this time, a spokesman said. And Xcel Energy, which gave Trump’s 2017 inauguration $25,000, has no plans to give in 2025 after also skipping Biden’s inauguration in 2021, spokesman Theo Keith said.
Extracurricular Enrichment
Presidential inaugural committees are required to publicly report donors to the Federal Election Commission by mid-April. But they aren’t required to account for their spending, and Trump previously did not volunteer such information. Following Trump’s 2017 inauguration, which raised a record $107 million, the attorney general of Washington, D.C., investigated Trump’s family and the Trump Organization for allegedly enriching themselves with more than $1 million in nonprofit money earmarked for inauguration-related festivities.
Trump ultimately settled the matter several years later by paying a $750,000 fine. As part of the deal, the Trump Organization and Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee were allowed to maintain their innocence.
“The way they handled the first inauguration was a clusterf—. This one isn’t looking good, either,” Kappel said. “The situation should raise concerns that there are routes for mischief, at the very least. Or worse.”
Holman of Public Citizen said he expects Trump will exceed in 2025 the $107 million he raised for his 2017 inauguration, and ABC News this week reported that Trump’s current inaugural committee is on pace to raise more than $150 million. Since inaugural committees do not have to disclose their spending, Holman said the Trumps could potentially profit from the inauguration by steering funds to Trump-affiliated entities, as they were accused of doing in 2017.
“It’s a very likely possibility, and because there are so few rules, and we may never even know about it,” Holman said.
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