In his farewell speech to the nation, Joe Biden warned that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy.” Since then, denouncing “oligarchy” has become the Democratic Party’s go-to line of attack against the new administration, especially from the left flank led by figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Donald Trump has made himself vulnerable to this charge, not least by granting immense power to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. To maintain his populist bona fides, Trump has set his sights on other centers of power, especially the federal bureaucracy and higher education. Through a series of executive orders, he and his administration have made one of their central missions the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the public and private sectors alike.
According to the right-wing narrative, DEI was imposed on America by the meddling government bureaucrats whose power Trump is now curtailing; for the left, meanwhile, defending DEI and fighting oligarchy are of a piece. What partisans on both sides won’t admit is that the rise of DEI in government and the corporate world was part and parcel of the consolidation of oligarchic power that had already occurred by the time Trump came on the scene—especially under the administration of Biden’s former boss, Barack Obama.