“The future is ours, and our [America’s] golden age has just begun.” Listening to these words — the closing line of President Trump’s second inaugural address — brought me to a different period in history. 

The Gilded Age is generally referred to as the period of American history from the late 1870s to the turn of the 20th century. It was characterized by the outward appearance of wealth, prosperity and innovation despite the widespread poverty and political corruption within working cities. Like how gilded objects are covered in a thin layer of gold, America’s labor struggles and regulatory issues were covered by the illusion of opulence and riches (hence the name “Gilded Age”). Today, I see haunting parallels, both economically and politically, to this period in American history.

A crucial aspect of the Gilded Age was the centralization of the economy by monopolies and large corporations, very much like those we see today. These companies wielded significant market power and were headed by so-called “captains of industry” who accumulated wealth at extremely high rates. In the 1800s, these ultra-rich and powerful leaders included J.D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan. Today, these same roles are filled by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. And like the 19th century, the resulting wealth inequality today is egregiously disproportionate. According to 2024 Federal Reserve data, the wealth held by the top 0.1% of households in the United States was greater than five times the amount held by the bottom 50%. This extreme concentration of wealth is even worse than that of the Gilded Age, and it comes with many effects that stifle the core tenets of the American dream. Some of these effects include decreased upward economic mobility for working and middle-class people, disproportionate societal influence for the wealthy and a distorted impact on the democratic process. 

The impact of the ultra-wealthy on the democratic principles of our country in both the Gilded Age and today cannot be understated. Large donations have historically been made to influence the political platform of candidates, leading to legislation that disproportionately benefits the donors and their income sources. In the 1896 election, both Morgan and Rockefeller contributed large sums of money to boost William McKinley’s campaign. McKinley then ceased his support for additional antitrust legislation proposals that would have harmed their companies. Likewise, Musk spent approximately $290 million to elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election cycle. As a result, Trump has proposed a $4.5 trillion tax cut that would substantially benefit wealthy Americans like Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg the most. He has also begun to sign executive orders that benefit the large corporations they run. These have come in the form of an IRS hiring freeze (reducing the resources available to audit these companies), a reversal of Biden-era environmental policy (which allows for profits to be valued over the climate) and an act placing the workforce of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on leave (which combats price gouging). These actions harm economic consumers, the environment and ultimately Americans as a whole.

As President Trump implements his policy goals and surrounds himself with billionaires, he creates conditions that echo the economic and political state of the Gilded Age. Seeing the vast parallels between that period and contemporary politics, I fear that his proposed “Golden Age of America” will result in the same harmful effects as those experienced in the late 19th century.