How Private Funds Could Hurt Americans Under Trump
Mr. Birdthistle was the director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investment management division between 2021 and 2024.
Over the past few years, financiers who manage almost $30 trillion in private equity, hedge and venture capital funds have shed their reluctance to exert political influence. Steven Mnuchin brought hedge fund experience to his role as the head of the Treasury during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term. More recently, Glenn Youngkin moved from private equity to the governor’s mansion in Virginia. But no presidency has been as thoroughly surrounded and supported by the private fund industry as America’s incoming administration.
Mr. Trump’s family, fund-raisers and financial lieutenants are more likely to be fund managers than any prior presidency, including his first term. Vice President-elect JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr. have been or have become venture capitalists. The president-elect has also tapped Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager, to serve as Treasury secretary.
The investment portfolios and civic institutions these managers govern could hold a clue to what they may likely do: concentrate ever more control over our financial system into substantially less regulated, less transparent capital markets dominated by firms and financiers about whom Americans know very little.
