Donald Trump has never had a shortage of wealthy friends and supporters. That’s hardly surprising, given his lifelong passion for the trappings of wealth and power available to the scion of one of the richest families in the US.
But in recent months, a coterie of younger Silicon Valley ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs – of the type known as “tech bros” – has gravitated strongly towards Mr Trump in his presidential campaign in a manner with ominous implications for US economic policy, the relationship between business and government, and even the future of US democracy.
We may be witnessing the rise of a new breed of American oligarchs, in the worst sense of that term.
One of the most striking features of this coterie of would-be “Maga” oligarchs is the extent to which many have entirely changed their views regarding Mr Trump. One podcasting wealthy tech bro, Chamath Palihapitiya, used to deride Mr Trump in the most vulgar terms and wanted him to serve scores of years in prison for the January 6, 2020 insurrection against Congress. Now he showers the former president with praise and donations.
Others are a more natural fit into Mr Trump’s orbit. The founding figure of this group is Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder who spoke on behalf of Mr Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention. He has long sought to translate personal wealth into political influence.
Mr Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, is a protege of Mr Thiel who discovered him as a Yale law school student and gave him his start in venture capital. Mr Thiel later funded Mr Vance’s successful Senate bid in 2022, the only significant Maga victory in a contested election other than Mr Trump’s own presidential win in 2016.
If Trump wins, he seems set to try to give his allies among the super-wealthy the kind of political clout their predecessors could only dream of
But the most prominent and dynamic member of the group is Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, who has taken to showing up at Trump rallies with extravagant displays of excitement and enthusiasm. Mr Musk is giving tens of millions to Mr Trump’s campaign. Some legal experts say his recent offer of $1 million to registered voters who sign petitions supporting conservative causes is, in effect, an offer to pay people for registering to vote. That would be a blatant violation of US election laws.
Mr Musk has played a significant role in facilitating, and more recently engaging in, the dissemination of highly damaging disinformation about the US political scene. Almost all of it seems intended to promote Mr Trump and the extreme right. He famously purchased Twitter, changing its name to X, and returned hundreds of right-wing extremists who had been previously banned for spreading incitement to violence, racism and dangerous disinformation (including about the Covid-19 pandemic) to that platform.
One of the under-appreciated characteristics that unites some of these figures is that they are white men who spent their childhoods living under – and benefitting, by virtue of their race – from apartheid. Mr Musk, Mr Thiel and David Sacks (another prominent pro-Trump venture capitalist) all share this background.
Their upbringing under the systematised inequalities of apartheid may well help to explain why all of them seem committed to the idea that human societies are inevitably divided between winners and losers, and that governance should be restricted to a natural aristocracy.
That heritage may well resonate with Mr Trump’s own upbringing. His father was famously arrested, although under murky circumstances, at a violent Ku Klux Klan rally in 1927. And one of the most formative experiences of Mr Trump’s early business career was the 1973 battle that he and his father waged against the administration of Richard Nixon – hardly a civil rights champion – over their systematic housing discrimination.
Mr Trump’s father had built an empire of working and middle-class housing in the outer boroughs of New York, particularly in the booming decades following the Second World War. When Mr Trump was brought on board to help run the company, it was accused of systematically instructing agents to mark all applications from African Americans with the letter C (standing for “coloured”), an indication not to rent to those prospective tenants, as has been widely reported in US media.
In the end, Mr Trump and his father settled with the government, promising to end the practice.
Mr Trump and the new crop of Silicon Valley would-be oligarchs seemingly recognise each other as kindred spirits. The tech bros are throwing their support behind him in the apparent hope that the personalised rule that he is promising can be used in their favour. At a minimum, they might hope to avoid government regulation themselves.
The wealthy in US have never lacked for influence. The details of its framing Convention show that the constitutional system was consciously designed to facilitate the political expression of financial power, while balancing that with the power of voting majorities. Since the Supreme Court held that political donations are a form of protected “free speech” and that corporations are legal persons with political rights, that has greatly intensified in recent decades.
But the new wannabe oligarchs now flocking around Mr Trump are either seeking to pioneer new ways of politically empowering themselves via their fortunes, or at least returning to the excesses of individual political clout among the super-wealthy characteristic of the Gilded Age at the turn of the 19th century. At the time, political reformers recognised this undue influence as a form of corruption and attack against the democratic system.
Led by Republican president Theodore Roosevelt, the progressives of the time broke up monopolies and restrained the worst excesses of individual and corporate financial power on the political system. But, if he wins, another Republican president, Mr Trump, seems set to try to give his allies among the super-wealthy the kind of political clout their predecessors could only dream of.
A personalised and autocratic presidential administration backed up by, and in turn favouring, personalised and politicised individual wealth has a familiar ring in today’s world. Its next epicentre could be in Washington.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
Under-21 European Championship Final
Germany 1 Spain 0
Weiser (40')
Dunbar
Edward St Aubyn
Hogarth
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Company%20profile
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The Freedom Artist
By Ben Okri (Head of Zeus)
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
India squads
T20: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
Test: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
More from UAE Human Development Report:
Total eligible population
About 57.5 million people
51.1 million received a jab
6.4 million have not
Where are the unvaccinated?
England 11%
Scotland 9%
Wales 10%
Northern Ireland 14%
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
if you go
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The years Ramadan fell in May
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