New York Times columnist David Brooks went ham and cheese on Joe Biden on Friday, declaring that most billionaires in the United States are Democrats – negating the president’s comments claiming that Donald Trump would usher in an “oligarchy.”
Biden declared on Wednesday, “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.” He continued, “We see the consequences all across America. And we’ve seen it before, more than a century ago. But the American people stood up to the robber barons back then and busted the trusts.”
During his appearance on PBS NewsHour on Friday, Brooks set Biden straight. “I think he’s right. There is an oligarchy, but it’s completely bipartisan. Most billionaires in this country are Democrats who go to speak at Aspen every year. I think I know something about billionaires. And there’s and there used to be one Republican, one Republican, this guy named Fred Malek, who unfortunately has left us. But like Hollywood, New York, San Francisco, these are Democratic places.”
He continued, “The Democratic Party has half the country, but about 75 percent of the GDP of this country. So there is a Democratic oligarchy and a Republican oligarchy. And so to say it’s all because of Elon Musk, well, that’s part of it. But there are a lot of billionaires on the Democratic side.”