Besides comprising the wealthiest administration in modern U.S. history, President-elect Donald Trump's 17 ultra-rich cabinet-level picks thus far have a combined wealth that surpasses that of the 43 million least wealthy American households combined.
That's according to a Quartz analysis published Thursday, based on data from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances. It shows that the $9.5 billion held by Trump's cabinet or cabinet-level nominees is greater than that of 43 million U.S. households combined--over one-third of the 126 million households total in the United States. (Other analyses have shown the Trump administration to have an even higher combined wealth.)
"Even if we just compare the wealth of Trump's cabinet to the median household, it is still an impressive concentration of riches," Dan Kopf wrote for Quartz. "It would take about 120,000 households with the United States median net worth of about $83,200 to match the wealth of just the four richest members of Trump's cabinet--Betsy DeVos, Wilbur Ross Jr., Linda McMahon, and Rex Tillerson."
In addition to uber-wealthy, Huffington Post senior political reporter Amanda Terkel wrote on Wednesday, Trump's cabinet "is shaping up to be the least diverse in recent history, with just three people so far who are not white men."
"Of the 13 people Trump has nominated for Cabinet positions, only Ben Carson (Housing and Urban Development), Elaine Chao (Transportation), and Betsy DeVos (Education) are not both white and male," she noted.
Reporter Gregory Krieg also noted the trend at CNN, writing: "Of Trump's 18 choices to date--excluding his vice president and senior White House staff--14 are white, of which 12 are male. By comparison, 11 of the the corresponding positions in Obama's first cabinet were white--with seven men and four women--along with Latino labor and interior secretaries and three African-Americans, two of whom were women."
Trump's choice of several generals to fill top positions within his administration has also drawn flak.
