Trump Hands Out Awards to Tech Billionaires a Month Before Elections Instead of Helping Ordinary Americans

On Thursday, October 9, in a building named after himself, the US president held a ceremony to honor technology magnates. The event was called the Golden Age of American Innovation summit — perhaps in full irony, given that his administration had carried out multibillion-dollar cuts to the science research budget.

Donald Trump convened roughly 300 invited guests at the Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, where White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios presented him with a gift: a medal belonging to his uncle, electrical engineer and MIT professor John Trump, who received the National Medal of Science in 1983. A documentary video about the uncle's legacy contained the president's characteristic hyperboles: supposedly his X-ray machines were used in the first radiation treatments for cancer, and his radar systems jammed German defenses on D-Day in 1944.

Foreigners

Instead of Americans in the Era of "America First"?

The self-distribution of awards became a demonstration of political paradox. A president who built a decade-long career on the "America First" slogan and criticism of immigration solemnly presented government medals mostly to foreigners:

National Medals of Science went to: — Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla) — originally from South Africa. Trump called him an "industrial titan," a "genius engineer," a "national treasure," and a "modern-day Thomas Edison." The ceremony was accompanied by a signature gesture: a pat on the back, handing over the medal, another pat, showing off the certificate, a third pat. — Sergey Brin (Google) — from Russia. — Jensen Huang (Nvidia) — from Taiwan, head of the world's most valuable company amid the artificial intelligence boom. — Lisa Su (AMD) — from Taiwan.

National Medals of Technology and Innovation went to: — Satya Nadella (Microsoft) — from India. A curious detail: just hours before the medal ceremony, Vice President JD Vance announced that Microsoft would be suspended from the work-visa sponsorship program for foreign employees. — Michael Dell (Dell Technologies) — a Texas native, the only American among the honorees.

Musk: Ally, Enemy, and Partner Again

The relationship between Trump and Musk is multilayered. In 2024, Musk poured money into Trump's campaign and then received a very useful tool in return: control of DOGE, which Musk used as "a means of gutting the federal agencies investigating his companies." Trump praised the Grok chatbot highly, calling it a brilliant solution. But later came an explosive falling-out: Musk posted on X: "Time to drop the really big bomb: [Trump] is in the Epstein files. That's the real reason they haven't been made public." It later turned out that both men appeared in the documents. Vance acted as a mediator. The reconciliation is incomplete, but strategic.

This ceremony vividly demonstrates that power and wealth cannot live apart for long — especially with the elections a month away and the president's approval rating in free fall. The evening ended on a telling note: on stage with Trump stood the king of AI, Jensen Huang, both pointing people toward the right spots for photos, looking satisfied. Two men who rule the world, who might one day find a way to let a superintelligent AI destroy it.