Have Billionaires Gone Too Far?

The über-rich have enjoyed a remarkable degree of sway in Donald Trump’s Washington—but they may now be facing a backlash. The Washington Roundtable traces the signs of invigorated “pitchfork politics,” such as Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax in New York , a wealth tax on the ballot in California , and recent protests against the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s involvement in the Met Gala —and what these efforts reveal about the cultural and political limits of oligarchy. The panel is joined by Brooke Harrington, a Dartmouth professor of economic sociology who trained as a wealth manager to embed inside the world of the super-rich. Together they examine whether the “broligarchs” have overplayed their hand, what history tells us about when élites lose their grip on power, and whether the left or the right is better positioned to harness growing inequality and anger as a political weapon heading into the 2026 midterms and beyond. This week’s reading: “ All the President’s Contractors ,” by Antonia Hitchens “ Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Complicated Commemoration ,” by Jelani Cobb “ For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting ,” by Joshua Yaffa “ The Pope’s First Anniversary Is Marked by More Sparring from the White House ,” by Paul Elie “ Barack Obama Considers His Role in the Age of Trump ,” by Peter Slevin “ How the Iran War Is Shifting Power Toward China ,” by Ishaan Tharoor “ The A.I. Industry Is Booming. When Will It Actually Make Money? ,” by John Cassidy “ How a Congressional Primary Became a Proxy Battle Over A.I. ,” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus “ The Real Cost of Downsizing Social Security ,” by E. Tammy Kim See the Washington Roundtable live at 92NY on June 4th. The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a w… Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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Have Billionaires Gone Too Far? is an episode from The Political Scene | The New Yorker by The New Yorker.

This episode is 42:43 long.

This episode was published on May 9, 2026.

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