Some GOP lawmakers are grumbling over President Trump’s “Kitchen Cabinet” of billionaire allies such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who were featured prominently at Trump’s inauguration last week.

But more egregious than any of those boldfaced names was TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s place of honor on the stage at Trump’s inauguration. Trump gave TikTok a major reprieve shortly after the swearing-in by signing an executive order to suspend the TikTok ban supported by many Republicans in Congress for 75 days.

“It’s a concern; it’s a concern; I don’t love it,” said one Republican senator who supports the TikTok ban and has misgivings about the past censorship of conservative opinions by prominent California-based social media companies.

Republican senators are rushing to confirm Trump’s official Cabinet nominees such as Pam Bondi to serve as attorney general and Scott Bessent to serve as Treasury secretary but some of them are expressing skepticism about the tech titans who are jockeying to be in Trump’s inner circle of informal advisers.

A number of GOP lawmakers view the modern-day Masters of the Universe who were guests of honor at Trump’s inauguration as the epitome of the coastal “elites” who Trump campaigned against throughout the 2024 election.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said he wished Trump had some firefighters and other working-class heroes to balance out the billionaires on stage with him at the inauguration.

“I was thinking that it would be nice to have some firefighters and soup........

© The Hill