President-elect Trump has assembled an administration of unprecedented, mind-boggling wealth — smashing his own first-term record by billions of dollars, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• That's even without counting the ballooning fortunes of his prized outside adviser and the world's richest man: Elon Musk.

Why it matters: It's not hyperbole to call this a government of billionaires. Whether it acts as a government for billionaires — as Democrats argue is inevitable — could test and potentially tarnish Trump's populist legacy.

🎨 The big picture: Besides Trump, Musk and his fellow Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Vivek Ramaswamy, at least 11 billionaires will serve key roles in the administration.

• They've been picked to lead the departments of Treasury (Scott Bessent), Commerce (Howard Lutnick), Education (Linda McMahon), Interior (Doug Burgum), the Small Business Administration (Kelly Loeffler) and NASA (Jared Isaacman).
• Financier Stephen Feinberg has been nominated for the No. 2 position at the Pentagon. Trump family in-laws Charles Kushner (ambassador to France) and Massad Boulos (Middle East adviser) were tapped for diplomatic roles, alongside billionaire donor Warren Stephens (ambassador to the U.K.).
• An additional four top appointees are hundred-millionaires: celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz (Medicare and Medicaid administrator), Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano (Social Security commissioner), real estate executive Steven Witkoff (Middle East envoy) and fracking CEO Chris Wright (Energy Department).

By the numbers: Trump's projected Cabinet alone is worth at least $10 billion, according to research by Axios and the nonprofit Americans for Tax Fairness — an estimate that likely undervalues the true total.

• With Musk, Ramaswamy and other wealthy appointees included, the top of the Trump administration's net worth is likely higher than the GDP of hundreds of countries, including Finland, Chile and New Zealand.
• President Biden's Cabinet, by comparison, was worth an estimated $118 million when he took office, according to Forbes.

🔎 Between the lines: Trump's gilded Cabinet is the product of an election in which billionaires spent like never before in U.S. history — mostly on behalf of Republicans.

• Yet it was Democrats who shed major support among working-class voters, suggesting Trump's populist message — and the aspirational riches he represents — once again were underestimated.

What to watch: By rewarding so many of his biggest donors and billionaire allies with plum postings, Trump could risk flying too close to the sun.

• With every billionaire appointee comes a minefield of conflicts of interest and ethical concerns — exactly the kind of swampy conditions that Trump has vowed to drain.
• The optics alone could turbocharge the strain of populist left politics — championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — that characterizes America today as an "oligarchy."

Share this story.

President-elect Trump's choice of David Sacks as his "White House AI & Crypto Czar" will put a controversial Silicon Valley veteran, ally of Elon Musk and popular podcaster in charge of the White House's emerging-tech policy.

• Why it matters: The tech industry's conservative-libertarian wing has long complained Washington's leaders and culture stifle innovation. Now it will be their turn to call the shots, Axios managing editor Scott Rosenberg writes.

Catch up quick: Sacks was a co-founder of PayPal, where he worked with Musk and Peter Thiel, and later invested in their companies SpaceX and Palantir.

• Sacks co-hosts the "All-In Podcast" and is a leading critic of progressive ideas.
• In June, he hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his San Francisco home. In July he spoke at the Republican National Convention.
• He runs his own VC firm and this year launched Glue, an AI-driven Slack competitor.

Trump wrote that Sacks "will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship. He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S."

• Trump said Sacks will lead the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Between the lines: Sacks' appointment takes the same side door Trump is using to put Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of his DOGE efficiency office.

• Sacks will become a "special government employee" and can serve a maximum of 130 days a year, with or without compensation, per Bloomberg.
• That means he won't face confirmation hearings or financial disclosure requirements.
• Read Trump's announcement ... Share this story.

🇨🇳 P.S. Trump picked former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), a former businessman with experience dealing with Communist Party officials, as his ambassador to China.

• The choice "offers a potential olive branch to Beijing," Bloomberg reports: In 2019, during the first Trump administration, Perdue told Chinese trade negotiators in a CNBC opinion piece that "cooperation is our ultimate goal."

Share this story.

Two of President-elect Trump's closest allies have seen their wealth supercharged by his election — and the assumption that lucrative government business will now flow their way, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.

Why it matters: Investors aren't necessarily clamoring for SpaceX shares because Starlink has become more profitable or Palantir shares for some sudden AI breakthrough.

• Instead, they're buying into the proximity of Elon Musk and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel to President-elect Trump.

Both companies have gotten exponentially more valuable in recent months.

• SpaceX's private valuation has reportedly increased by $140 billion just since June, to the neighborhood of $350 billion.
• Palantir's publicly traded stock has more than tripled this year.

🖼️ The big picture: Both companies are now worth substantially more than market fundamentals would usually suggest.

• SpaceX is worth more than double most any other defense contractor.
• Palantir is trading at 60 times its revenue over the last 12 months (charted below).

👓 Between the lines: Both men are likely to use their access to Trump in different ways, and investors are counting on it to pay off.

• Musk, wearing his DOGE hat, could attempt to sell Trump on the idea that Space Force is much cheaper than the Army, Navy or Air Force, while also being a smarter strategic investment.
• Thiel has been described as a "kingmaker" in Trumpland after Trump picked Thiel protégé JD Vance as his running mate.

Go deeper on Elon Musk + SpaceX ... Palantir.

Like RFK Jr. or not, he and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement's focus on chronic disease gets at an ugly truth: America isn't as healthy as other countries, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes.

• Predictions say that'll get worse.

Why it matters: The U.S. outspends other countries on health care by a landslide. But it's not buying us the longer, healthier lives that people in other countries enjoy. That will only become more true over time.

• For all of Kennedy's falsehoods, a political spotlight on chronic disease could open doors to examining U.S. health care failings that don't always get a lot of attention.

🔢 By the numbers: America's global rank in life expectancy is projected to drop from 49th in 2022 to 66th in 2050, according to a new study by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation published in The Lancet.

• Go deeper with Axios Future of Health.

President Biden's pardon of his son Hunter ignited a debate over whether Biden was abusing his power. But he'll have to issue well over 100 more in his last few weeks in office to come close to his predecessors' totals, Axios' Erin Doherty and Hans Nichols write.

• Why it matters: After Biden's controversial pardon of his son, he's facing enormous pressure to flex his clemency muscle.

🧮 By the numbers: Biden has been reluctant to show mercy — handing out just 26 pardons and commuting 135 criminal sentences since he took office in January 2021.

• He's granted just 1.2% of the requests he's received, according to Justice Department data.

President-elect Trump — who had fewer acts of clemency than his recent predecessors during his first term — had granted 29 pardons at this point in 2020.

• But in the final weeks as the nation's 45th president, Trump nearly quintupled his number of pardons, ending with a total of 144.

🔎 Zoom in: President Obama, who had the most clemency grants of any president since Harry Truman, ended his two terms with 212 pardons and a whopping 1,715 commutations, far more than any recent president.

• The bulk of Obama's commutations cleared sentences for prisoners who had been convicted of drug charges.

Share this story.

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley is among those the White House is considering for preemptive pardons before President-elect Trump takes office.

• Axios is told President Biden has discussed the possibility with staff. But there's no consensus proposal or list. As we told you yesterday, others being mentioned include Liz Cheney and Anthony Fauci.

Why it matters: The preemptive move would be a novel and risky use of the president's extraordinary constitutional power, AP notes.

• White House lawyers are discussing pardons for people who haven't even been investigated, let alone charged. Biden's team fears Trump and his allies, who have boasted of enemies lists and exacting "retribution," could launch investigations that would be reputationally and financially costly for their targets, even if they don't result in prosecutions.

Keep reading.

The Las Vegas Stadium Authority approved lease, non-relocation and development documents yesterday for the A's to build a $1.75 billion stadium on the Strip, and bring Major League Baseball to a growing sports mecca.

• The stadium exterior — shaped like a "spherical armadillo" — will have five overlapping layers, with a similar look to the famous Sydney Opera House, AP reports.
• Amenities include an under-seat cooling system, and a split lower bowl to bring fans closer to the action. The stadium will feature the "world's largest cable-net glass window."

Zoom in: After 57 years, the Athletics played their last game in Oakland in September.

• The club will open the 2025 season in West Sacramento, Calif., and play there until their Vegas home is ready — projected for Opening Day 2028.

🎲 Zoom out: The A's will add another prof team to a Vegas market that includes the NFL's Raiders, NHL's Golden Knights and WNBA's Aces.

• The Golden Knights and Aces have combined to win three championships in recent seasons.

Keep reading.

Dog owners were much more likely to support Donald Trump over Vice President Harris, according to AP VoteCast's survey of 120,000+ voters.

• Cat owners were split.

Why it matters: Pet owners don't usually get much attention from politicians — until the chatter ignited by JD Vance's old comments about "childless cat ladies."

Harris decisively won women who owned a cat but no dog. But those voters were a relatively small slice of the electorate.

• Go deeper.