Carlyle Group co-founder and Declaration Partners founding father David Rubenstein saturated the airwaves in late 2024, early 2025. He was one of nineteen citizens to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Several of his fellow recipients are also current or former private equity underwriters (PEU).
- Bono - Elevation Partners, The Rise Fund
- Hillary Clinton - Yucaipa, Fondo Accesso
- Magic Johnson - JLC Infrastructure, Detroit Venture Partners
Nantucket's The Inquirer and Mirror reported on the White House event:
Oddly, the paper failed to mention that Rubenstein's Nantucket estate has been the Thanksgiving vacation home for President Joe Biden, going back to his Vice President days.
Late last year Rubenstein spoke with Face the Nation. It was their final episode of 2024. He said:
Trump is- got more power than I think many people would have thought by the virtue of his victory size. In other words, he didn't win the way that, let's say, Richard Nixon did in his second term or Ronald Reagan in his second term, but he's won by enough so that people feel he's got a mandate and certainly he feels he's got a mandate. And I do think he's going to act like he's got a mandate. And Washington is bracing for what's going to happenHistorically U.S. Presidents from both political teams have catered to the PEU boys, who preferred to work behind the scenes to access Uncle Sam's wallet and steer government policy to their advantage.
Trump's coronation on January 20th is being funded by corporations and wealthy individuals. To have a seat at the inaugural table, corporations and wealthy individuals have to pony up $1 million. CNBC's Jim Cramer referred to the $1 million donation this morning. He seemed worried that it was the price of entry before noting Facebook's moves to curry favor with the incoming President. Meta added a Trump buddy to their board and decimated their content review team.
Hollywood and entertainment types also have reason to be worried about a Trump White House hell bent on revenge. That leads us to another Rubenstein role, Chair of the Kennedy Center.
In late November 2024 Rubenstein reneged on his retirement from The Kennedy Center Chairman role. A year long search could not find a suitable replacement. Rubenstein will remain in that role until September 2026.
The Kennedy Center honored President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken (also a PEU with Pine Island Capital). Rubenstein did the honors, however the recipients returned the compliments. Jewish News Syndicate reported"
Biden called Rubenstein “one of the most generous people” during his remarks at the White House reception for the honorees on Dec. 8. Biden said that when he prepared to live in the president’s residence in the White House, his brother said, “‘Look, you want to be able to see from your desk—you want to be able to see Rubenstein.’
I said, ‘I beg your pardon?’ He said, ‘The Washington Memorial.’ This guy rebuilt the sucker.”
“You’re the best, David,” Biden added. “You are.”
“Your contributions to American philanthropy, to the arts, are simply unparalleled. Your tenure as the board chair of the Kennedy Center—genuinely historic.”The Secretary of State reflected on the location of the special tribute ceremony, which took place in the Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room in the Harry S. Truman Federal Building.“I’m reminded of the story of when Thomas Jefferson was appointed to follow Franklin as the United States ambassador to France,” Blinken said. “When Jefferson presented his credentials, the French foreign minister said, ‘You replace Monsieur Franklin,’ to which Jefferson replied, ‘I succeed him. No man can replace him.’”Blinken addressed Rubenstein, saying, “David—I’m glad the Kennedy Center has persuaded you to stay while they work to find the Jefferson to your Franklin.”
Rubenstein's avoidance of taxes, ability to lobby government officials as a non-lobbyist and discretely manipulate the strings of power is simply unparalleled. It's what PEU Lords do and have done for the last two and a half decades.
Trump catered to the PEU Lords in his first term, but now has the impatient, brash, live forever Tech Gods in his corner. I can picture a December 2028 White House award ceremony with Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman and Apollo's Marc Rowan.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet and regulatory regime in favor of their donors. Carlyle's DNA ensured they had the players to appeal to both political teams. We'll see if that is still allowed after Trump's coronation.
Rubenstein stated his Face the Nation interview:
...in the case of President Trump, for example, clearly he has some resentments. But I think overall, I believe he's going to rise above that in his second term."Rise above" could mean a lot of things to a Tyrannical Rectum Usurping as Much as Possible.
