I assume everyone here is familiar with "The Portrait of Dorian Gray."
Sufficient wealth lends an air of unearned respect of the wealthy by people that do not know the wealthy person. They assume that the wealthy person is somehow better, stronger, faster, smarter that the average bear because otherwise how could they amass wealth.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk are wealthy because their parents were wealthy, in a sense just dumb luck like playing the lottery and winning. Bill Gates was also lucky in that his high school had a well-equipped computer lab that, in essence, launched his career.
Wealth makes you into the portrait of your true self. If you have a hatred of everything and everybody, that is revealed over time by your own actions. If others have a vested interest in you for their own reasons, they begin covering up for you because you are their tool for their benefit for as long as possible.
If you are a wealthy but inherently a decent person, you will do good for the benefit of others without a need for recognition; Dolly Parton comes to mind. Her portrait reflects her true self.
Nobody is perfect and we all have ugliness inside. The question is how much and whether it can choke out our inherent decency.
Not within a generation, Freedom (Democratic governance) will likely be lost in less than 2 years. Donald Trump cannot risk loss of the House or Senate as he pushes to become President for Life under a new Fascist government. Political opponents will find themselves under investigation and charged for something, for anything, or jailed so that they are eliminated as a threat. Those opponents who cannot be derailed need to take the stairs and stay away from windows.
Donald Trump is actively screwing all sides because he knows he is on a trajectory to become a dictator. What exactly do you think Donald Trump and Putin talked about during those "off the record" private meetings.
To Elon Musk: do you really think Donald Trump will allow you to remain rich? He wants and will take your money under some pretense if for nothing else as an example to other billionaires. Tesla will likely be shut down, Space X will become Space T, X will become T and be folded into Truth Social, Starlink will become Trump-link. You and all your children will be deported back to South Africa.
Ben Franklin said when asked after the Constitutional Convention what kind of government they had answered, "a republic, if you can keep it."