Marking the first anniversary of his return to the White House last week, Donald Trump boasted that his agenda was delivering for ordinary Americans. The US economy has grown rapidly, though the president’s falling approval ratings suggest many voters, grappling with affordability problems, feel otherwise. Workers’ share of GDP dropped to its lowest on record in the third quarter of 2025, indicating many of the economic gains are going into profits. Indeed, the clearest winners from Trump’s second administration appear to be those close to the president — in what increasingly resembles an “insider” economy.
Close ties between business and previous administrations have long fuelled a sense that America’s free market tilts towards well-connected elites. But this administration has normalised case-by-case dealmaking as a basis for policy and regulation. Under Trump’s transactional leadership, the returns to presidential access have rarely been higher.
This insider economy takes several forms. Those on good terms with the president over time tend to be first in line for deals. A high-profile example is the agreement Trump helped to broker last week to split out the US operations of the short-video app, TikTok. Oracle — whose chair Larry Ellison has hosted Republican fundraisers and provided advice to Trump — garnered a key stake in the new US entity. The technology firm Palantir, whose co-founder Peter Thiel was an early Trump backer, has won a series of state contracts; its third-quarter US government revenues jumped 52 per cent year on year.