As we are in the season of giving, here is a list of the billionaire businessmen—plus one widow of a billionaire businessman—who gave President Trump everything he wanted this year. Their avarice puts Ebenezer Scrooge to shame and would even make the Gilded Age robber barons blush.
Ken Langone
The co-founder of Home Depot, who is worth a cool $10 billion, initially criticized Trump’s proposed tariffs as “bullshit,” adding, “I don’t understand the goddamn formula.” But he recently told CNBC that he’s now fully “sold on Trump.” “Like it or not,” he added, “this guy is getting things done.” Yes. Things like kidnapping people off the streets, cutting healthcare from millions of people, and murdering Venezuelans without cause. But as Langone sees it, Trump has “a good shot at going down in history as one of our best presidents ever.” This is a serious change of tune for someone who, following the January 6 attack on the Capitol, said “I feel betrayed” and vowed to support Joe Biden’s presidency.
The Winklevii
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, famed for their Facebook feud with Mark Zuckerberg, are heavy crypto investors and the founders of Gemini Trust. So they bet big on Trump, to the tune of $2 million last year, and it paid off: The number of securities violations cases brought by the SEC has gone from 105 under President Biden to zero under Trump. Moreover, the agency has dismissed or frozen cases against various crypto agencies, including staying a case against Gemini so that it could strike a deal (the details of which remain unknown). The Winklevii, in turn, have contributed to Trump’s monstrous ballroom construction, and they’ve also partnered with Donald Trump Jr. in a private club and invested in a crypto mining endeavor called American Bitcoin with both Don Jr. and Eric.
Alex Karp
Karp co-founded Palantir with Peter Thiel. He was originally not a Trump supporter, stating in 2017, “I respect nothing about the dude. It would be hard to make up someone I find less appealing.” But he’s seen the light. Perhaps it has something to do with Palantir’s massive government contracts, including a $795 million deal with the Defense Department and a $30 million one with ICE. Trump has also tapped Palantir to compile data on Americans. Karp isn’t shy about his motivations. He told Andrew Ross Sorkin, “I’m going to use my whole influence to make sure that this country stays skeptical of migration.”
Miriam Adelson
Adelson, the widow of billionaire hotel tycoon Sheldon Adelson, recently attended a Hannukah celebration at the White House, where she prodded Trump to illegally seek a third term, claiming she’d consulted with Alan Dershowitz about it—and offered to spend $250 million to get Trump elected a third time. In 2024, she ponied up $100 million. She’s also contributing to Trump’s new ballroom, where she’ll likely dance the night away to celebrate the end of medical benefits to millions of Americans and the cuts of U.S. aid to millions more.
Jeff Yass
Yass, who also donated to the ballroom, was the force behind Trump’s TikTok “evolution.” He was not initially a Trump supporter, and in fact funded Trump primary challengers in 2024. Yet he, too, came around on the president after the election. Yass’s firm, Susquehanna International Group, owns approximately 15 percent of TikTok parent ByteDance, and Yass himself owns 7 percent, worth over $20 billion. As Trump was now in a position to allow the TikTok ban that had become law under Biden to take effect, Yass donated $1 million to MAGA Inc., a Trump super PAC, three days before the inauguration; upon taking office, Trump immediately delayed the ban. Yass gave another $15 million in March, and since then Trump has delayed the ban three more times; a deal to sell TikTok’s U.S. entity was finally struck on December 18.
Tim Cook
Cook may have a PhD in kissing-up. In an awkward moment in the Oval Office over the summer, he gifted Trump a strange-looking plaque with the Apple logo and a 24-karat gold base. At a September meeting at the White House, Cook brought obsequiousness to a new level, thanking Trump “for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing, advanced manufacturing here.” He also, of course, donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and ponied up money for Trump’s ridiculous ballroom.
Jeff Bezos
There’s nothing like seeing a rich man grovel. Like Cook, Jeff Bezos donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, getting him prime seating. He’s also met privately with Trump at times, most likely out of concern for how Trump will treat his pet space project, Blue Origin. Most concerning, though, are the changes at the Bezos-owned Washington Post. Last year, Bezos himself vetoed an editorial endorsement of Kamala Harris, and this year the opinion section has taken a decidedly rightward turn. Lastly, let’s not forget the $40 million that Bezos’s Amazon paid for a documentary about Melania Trump—one in which she has total creative control. Expect the film equivalent of blood-red trees.
Mark Zuckerberg
Zuck might be Donald’s new best friend. The Facebook founder and Meta CEO even got to sit next to the wannabe autocrat during that infamous suck-up meeting at the White House in September. Trump was kind enough, in fact, to shield Zuckerberg from an uncomfortable question about free speech in Europe. In fact, ever since Trump threatened him with jail time, Zuckerberg has decided that Trump’s way is best. He’s changed the Facebook platform to Trump’s liking, allowing more right-wing hate speech and misinformation, and has become Trump’s fawner-in-chief. He even praised him on an earnings call early this year, declaring, “We now have a U.S. administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning and that will defend our values and interests abroad.”
Elon Musk
There was a time earlier this year when Musk might not have qualified for this list. After his ignominious exit from the White House over his DOGE disaster, he called Trump’s tax cuts for the rich a “disgusting abomination” and declared that he would start a new political party. Had Musk really committed to being a public Trump antagonist, and begun spending hundreds of millions of dollars against the MAGA GOP (like he spent to get Trump elected), then maybe we would have left him off the list. But they’ve since kissed and made up, which means Musk is back to the usual: giving Trump millions in free advertising through X’s MAGA-friendly algorithm, fueling the president’s Afrikaner “refugees” delusion, dropping boatloads on MAGA candidates in 2026, and so on. Trump, naturally, has returned the favor.
