Thomas Jefferson warned about the artificial aristocracy of Donald Trump
From his gilded ballroom to his goal of having his name emblazoned on nearly everything in Washington, DC, Donald Trump has become the fulfillment of a warning once made by Thomas Jefferson about the artificial aristocracy and how it could ultimately lead to the end of the American experiment.
Donald Trump declared in his most recent State of the Union Address that America would be entering a “Golden Age” under his presidency . . . but Golden for whom? For a president living lavishly in a taxpayer-funded mansion, jetting around to weekend golf getaways at taxpayer expense, and dismissing the financial struggles of Americans trying to make ends meet as the price on nearly everything explodes thanks to his war in Iran, perhaps what Trump should have said that America was entering the Age of the Artificial Aristocrat.
Under Donald Trump, wealth and celebrity have blinded MAGA, Trumpist Republicans, Democrats, and “open-minded” celebrities in media to the things that ordinary Americans can plainly see, as we observed in a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher where the topic of discussion was the new White House ballroom (via The Hartmann Report):
Bill Maher and Sen. John Fetterman sat around joking about Donald Trump’s new White House ballroom like a couple of wealthy guys at a country club laughing over cocktails while the republic burns outside the window.
Maher dismissed the outrage by calling the cost “couch money.” Fetterman rolled his eyes and reduced the backlash to “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” They practically patted each other on the back for being the last two supposedly reasonable men in American politics. Calm down, peasants, they were essentially saying. It’s only a $330 million gilded palace add-on for a man who already treats the presidency like his private casino.
This is what elite detachment looks like in America now. Smug. Self-satisfied. Historically illiterate. No, Bill. People are not angry because Trump likes chandeliers. They’re angry because symbols matter in politics. They always have.
Americans are watching a president who already wrapped himself in gold-plated excess try to build a massive, gilded ballroom while millions of working people can’t afford rent, healthcare, childcare, or groceries. And then they’re being told by multimillionaire celebrities that noticing the symbolism somehow makes them irrational.
That’s not “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” it’s something called “civic awareness.”
The founders of this country fought a revolution against aristocracy. Against kings and inherited power wrapped in luxury and spectacle. Thomas Jefferson warned repeatedly about the rise of an “artificial aristocracy” built on wealth instead of merit. Teddy Roosevelt spent years warning Americans about concentrated wealth turning democracy into oligarchy and got us the estate tax (which today’s Republicans have crippled).
But now we have political celebrities and media entertainers sneering at ordinary Americans for recognizing the obvious.
A golden ballroom attached to the White House isn’t just a ballroom: it’s a statement about power. Authoritarians throughout history have always understood and exploited the power of spectacle. Palaces. Towers. Gold. Giant halls. Arches. Statues of themselves. Grand architecture designed not to serve democracy but to glorify the ruler who built it.
The point is psychological, to elevate the leader above ordinary citizens. To make power feel untouchable, royal, and permanent. And Donald Trump has spent his entire public life desperately trying to achieve exactly that aesthetic. Gold elevators. Gold furniture. Gold ceilings. Gold logos with his name stamped onto everything he touches, like a monarch branding his kingdom.
So, when [Trump’s] critics recoil at the idea of a gilded Trump ballroom attached to the People’s House, they’re not reacting to drapes and drywall. They’re reacting to what it represents: the transformation of democratic government into personal branding for a strongman billionaire. (Emphasis mine)
The concept of the artificial aristocracy originated in 1813 from a discussion between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The two men were debating the nature of aristocracy after having grown to despise the hereditary nobility found in monarchies such as the one they left in England.
Adams held the belief that the best rulers were men of great wealth, birth, genius, virtue, and beauty, and he defended his point of view by claiming that civilizations throughout history have been partial to such traits. Jefferson agreed that only the best people should rule society, but he made a distinction between a natural aristocracy and an artificial one. Jefferson believed that a natural aristocracy produced people who possessed virtue and talent, but that an artificial aristocracy only produced people possessing wealth. He considered those of a natural aristocracy to be most suited to rule and whose talents would improve over time:
Nearly six-in-ten Americans say the country is worse off now than it was a year ago. Groceries cost more. Utilities cost more. Gasoline costs more. Housing costs more. For millions of families, this is not a golden age, it’s a painful reminder of the artificial aristocracy Thomas Jefferson warned us about and how Donald Trump is the fulfillment of that warning.
Trump isn’t using his office to make America great again, he’s using it to privatize the presidency as he expands his wealth, protects his investments, and rules in gilded comfort at taxpayer expense. While Americans struggle, Trump is using his position for personal enrichment and private accumulation. According to the New York Times Editorial Board, “Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion — a number we know to be low because some of his profits remain hidden from public view in so-called blind trusts.
Thomas Jefferson anticipated the danger of an artificial aristocracy and how a president like Donald Trump could use his wealth and birth to convert the public trust into private profit. That’s why the Constitution contains Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses to prevent a president from profiting from office. An emolument is not merely a bribe, it can be any profit, gain, or advantage derived from office. The prohibition exists for one reason: to prevent foreign powers from purchasing influence over American decision-making.
When a president turns public office into a source of personal revenue, corruption does not stop at enrichment. It spreads. It spreads into the Justice Department. It spreads into the courts. It spreads into law enforcement. It spreads into the very machinery that is supposed to hold power accountable. It destroys the American experiment.
Measured against this reality, Thomas Jefferson’s warning to bind government down “by the chains of the Constitution” sounds almost quaint. What good is the Constitution if those sworn to uphold it — Donald Trump and his artificial aristocracy — treat it as optional?
The choice before us is not partisan, it’s constitutional. A republic cannot survive when members of an artificial aristocracy can turn serving in public office into personal wealth and privilege, which is why we must heed the warning of Thomas Jefferson concerning men like Donald Trump and do all we can to prevent the office of the presidency from becoming a profit center.
It’s time to reclaim our role as the ultimate check on government power, otherwise the Constitution becomes window dressing and “we the people” become subjects.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties. He the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty.
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