Anytime the Bidens interacted with the Trumps, it was captivating to watch. They stood strangely together as Mr. Trump was sworn in. His youngest son, Barron, who is especially beloved by the MAGA base, approached Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris to shake their hands.
The Rotunda was filled with Mr. Trump’s children, grandchildren and in-laws, who filed into a row just in front of the one where the tech chief executives sat. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, took his seat and leaned back comfortably to chat with fellow elites Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, and Lauren Sanchez, his fiancée.
It was amusing to see JD Vance’s tiny mother, Beverly Aikins, who lives in Middletown, Ohio, and is quite new to the world of politics, situated comfortably in the Masters of the Universe row by Mr. Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta chief executive, and Sundar Pichai, the Google chief executive. Just behind Barron, the billionaire SpaceX chief executive, Elon Musk, giggled and gave a thumbs up when Mr. Trump talked about planting the American flag on Mars.
This was an eye-popping level of wealth and influence on display at the start of the second Trump administration. For the many billionaires who bought their way in, it was both a flex and act of public deference to be there.
There are so many media figures and megadonors genuflecting to Mr. Trump these days that it was interesting to see who made it in. Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News personality, and Laura Ingraham, a current one, stood together. Joe Rogan, the influential podcast host who supported Mr. Trump, was there, too. Also present was the casino magnate Miriam Adelson, who bet big on Mr. Trump; the former Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac Perlmutter; and the head of the luxury conglomerate LVMH, Bernard Arnault, who brought his son, Alexandre, and daughter, Delphine.
