7NEWS Foreign Editor Hugh Whitfeld: Who is set to benefit in Trump’s second term

The 45th, and now 47th President of the United States Donald Trump took centre stage inside the Capitol Rotunda.

The ceremony was forced inside by Washington’s bitter weather.

His inaugural address lasted just shy of half an hour, as the resurrected Republican promised the ‘Golden Age of America begins right now’.

The convicted felon, and twice-impeached Commander-in-Chief is once again the most powerful man in the world. But who’s really in power?

America’s richest man, Elon Musk, was seen giving a double ‘thumbs-up’ when Trump promised to put an American astronaut on Mars.

Alongside the Tesla and SpaceX supremo were Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg — who has recently undergone a massive personal overhaul to now shun diversity policies that were a trademark of Facebook.

These three men form part of the “oligarchy” of tech billionaires that Joe Biden warned about in his final address from the Oval Office.

As he outlined his policies, Donald Trump pointed out that many of the “most powerful and richest” had lost their homes in the Los Angeles fires. “We can’t let that happen”, he said.

Most of those actually affected were from middle-class LA suburbs.

If you want access in American politics, you’ve always needed cash in hand. But those with the most cash are now literally inside halls of power classically preserved for elected officials.

Make no mistake, Elon Musk will likely be in the Oval Office alongside the new president within hours.

“We stand on the verge of the greatest four years in American history”, Donald Trump told the handpicked audience.

Soon we’ll find out, who stands to benefit most.