There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about Elon Musk having undo influence over the US Government because he backed Trump, donated $250M-500M to his campaign (reportedly) and is now in an unelected but quite powerful position of influence.
It’s clear that many other high-dollar donors to Trump’s campaign and inauguration ceremony are buying their way into positions of power and influence as well (Meta, Amazon, Google, Andreeson, Thiel, Bezos, etc.).
This is nothing new.
It’s more blatant and up front than it has been during my lifetime, but I have no doubt that wealthy people have been buying their way to influence and power for a long, long time. Probably for about as long as humans have had societies, rulers and rudimentary civilizations.
Under previous leaders, this “pay for play” might have been hidden under layers of obfuscation, “handshake deals”, and more subtle, almost genteel norms.
But it is no different today than it has been in the past. The players may have changed, but the game remains the same.