FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon (L) as he hosts a strategy and policy forum with chief executives of major U.S. companies at the White House in Washington February 3, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 continues to draw scathing criticism from countless liberals and progressives, who argue that it harms the United States' social safety net considerably while giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
But in a listicle published on September 23, The New Republic's Timothy Noah lays out seven ways in which he believes Trump is shaking down the "oligarchs" he allied himself with.
"The oligarchs are complaining," Noah observes, "and for once, they have good reason to be upset…. And though they claim Trump's 'state-driven capitalism' — which I think is more accurately termed fascist corporatism — offends their sense of patriotism, what they really seem to resent is having routinely to pay Trump tribute, either by enriching him personally or by helping him try to plug the $3 trillion revenue hole he created with his idiot Big Beautiful Bill. This is government by shakedown, and they are the mark."
Noah goes on to cite the ways in which Trump is ripping off "oligarchs."
They are: (1) "H-1B visas are being put up for sale," (2) "The million-dollar gold card," (3) "Government-built factories," (4) "Trump's turnstile on the TikTok sale," (5) "The World Liberty Financial deal with the United Arab Emirates," (6) "Nice little invention you got there — too bad if something were to happen to it," and (7) "Don't you dare close that steel mill."
Noah writes, "To approximately the same degree that I applaud this outcome, the oligarchs hate it. In general, they struck a bad bargain by allowing Trump to replace the rule of law and the interaction of multiple branches of government with crude and not-always-legal Trump shakedowns. As business lobbyists never tire of saying, the business world prizes predictability above all else. Trump is anything but."
Timothy Noah's full listicle for The Bulwark is available at this link.