Professor Tevi Troy Speaks with The Commentator About His New Book, “The Power and the Money”: Part II
Ayelet Friedman: What general impression do you hope readers will develop in their understanding of the interconnections between CEOs and presidents?
Professor Tevi Troy: Well, the first general impression I want is for them to feel that it's a fascinating read. My approach to writing is I try never to write a boring sentence. Now, maybe you can look through all my writing and find one, but I read my sentences and if I think it's boring, I'm not gonna use it.
So that's one. But the second thing is, just to think as citizens about the rise of both big business and big government. If you go back 150 years, in 1870, the average American had no interaction with big business and very little interaction with the federal government, other than when the U.S. mail came, and now today they are both so enmeshed in our lives.
Think about this computer screen. We're talking about the iPhones that we carry in our pockets, the cars we drive, the fuel that powers those cars. Every one of those things comes from a big corporation, and they have a lot of impact on our lives. Now, many of those things have made our lives better, but not everything corporations do make our lives better.
Then on the other side, you've got government which is so heavily involved in our lives. They regulate and subsidize education. They regulate and subsidize the roads we drive on. In many cases, we saw with Elon Musk, they subsidize the cars we drive. They tax the fuel that we put in our vehicles. So every aspect of our lives is in some way shaped by the federal government, and so much of it is shaped also by what products the corporations put out.
This was not the case 150 years ago. And I think we, as citizens, need to think about that, whether that is what we want for ourselves in our fine republic.
AF: I am interested to hear your thoughts on a recent CEO and president pairing: what do you make of Elon Musk’s fervent endorsement of the Trump campaign?
TT: I found it fascinating. I've done a little writing about it, and I wrote a piece in Politico on the subject. Musk to this day, as we stand here in the fall of ‘24, has never voted for a Republican for President. He voted for Obama in ‘12, Hillary in ‘16 and Biden in ‘20. Now it seems pretty likely, given his endorsement of Trump, that he will vote for Trump in 2024. But it's not like he's some kind of dyed in the wool conservative. In fact, the Obama administration helped make him with a visit by Obama to SpaceX Florida and green subsidies that led to the rise of Tesla. But when Musk became this unfettered free speech advocate, and then even more, when he purchased X and tried to make it an unfettered free speech platform, he alienated the Left and made himself persona non grata.
And it's had implications for his business. He's been investigated by multiple departments. The Wall Street Journal chronicled all the different ways in which his companies have been investigated. And they wrote, tellingly, they doubt that there was any memo from on high telling regulators to go after Musk.
But the message of displeasure by Democratic elites, including in the White House, about Musk could not have been a clearer message to regulators and bureaucrats that it's kind of safe season to go after someone like Musk, and that may be why he's facing some of the investigations he's facing.
AF: Are there any other CEO-president relationships you are curious to watch develop?
TT: I wanna see what happens with Mark Zuckerberg and whoever wins the presidency. Zuckerberg is the head of a pretty liberal company. They provided a lot of assistance to Obama in ‘08 and ‘12, but he also recognized after 2016 that he couldn't just ignore the Trump presidency.
He tried to reach out to Trump and had dinner with him in the White House, but that relationship did not end well, so they're not friends. But at the same time, the very reaching out to Trump alienated many Democrats. A lot of Democrats aren't very happy with Zuckerberg. In fact, I have a great quote in a book about a legislator who Facebook lobbyists are trying to get him to meet with Zuckerberg. They say, “Oh, it'll be great. You'll have dinner at Sheryl's house, and Mark will be there with his wife.” And the legislator says, (you get the exact quote from the book), “But I don't want to meet him! We're not friends. I'm not interested in meeting him.”
Facebook has an office in Washington, a very robust office that, in fact, Bill Gates encouraged Zuckerberg to open an office in Washington, telling him at an early stage in the company, to “get an office there now.” By there, he meant Washington, D.C. But even with all that work he’s put into it, both sides seem to dislike him and his company and I wanna see how that relationship plays out, regardless of who wins.
AF: How do you think the relationship between the president and CEOs will continue to evolve?
TT: Well, it's not gonna go away, given how enmeshed government and big business are, how big the administrative state is and the power that these companies have. So I think, in many ways, my book is a volume one, and there is more to do in terms of studying the relationship between the presidents and the CEOs.
AF: Dr. Troy, you've been working at YU for over a year now, this is your third semester on campus. Do you have any reflections about your time at YU and writing this book during your time here?
TT: Actually, I did not write my book in my time at YU and I knew I was gonna start last September, so I worked like a madman the six months before I started to finish the manuscript. And I was right to do so because it has been a lot of work to come to New York every week and teach multiple classes.
But I love it. I really enjoy working with the students. I think I picked a perfect time, given what we've seen happening on the other so-called elite campuses. I call them “expensive campuses.” I think Jewish students need a learning environment where they can go and feel safe and also learn about their past in a way that is not overly poisoned by ideology. I kind of joke that when I'm on the YU campus, I feel like I'm at college in the ‘50s. The students all dress appropriately, they are all respectful, they do their work, they care about their learning and I think that's what a college campus should be. I've been very impressed with YU, and I look forward to continuing teaching.
Photo Caption: Professor Troy with Stern students and Naomi Schaefer Riley
Photo Credit: Professor Tevi Troy
