Abundists haven’t been shy about their support for high level Trump toadies.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum
A billionaire software magnate with a side hustle leasing his land to oil companies, Burgum has become a favorite of the Abundance crowd. When his name was announced, Politico reported that much of the jubilation came from Burgum’s attention to “one of the abundance agenda’s key fixations, or bogeymen: permitting reform.”
In Open Philanthropy’s announcement of their $120 million Abundance And Growth Fund (funded largely by tech titans Dustin Moskovitz and Patrick Collison), they cite Burgum’s previous calls for zoning reform and infrastructure investment as proof that abundance ideas have been “gaining traction for some time on both sides of the U.S. political spectrum.”
Matthew Yglesias, who Derek Thompson described as the “OG grandfather” of the ideas in Abundance and is a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center, reassured his liberal audience that Burgum is “a totally solid pick who’ll do good things.” Yglesias also previously supported Burgum for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Alec Stapp, the co-founder and co-CEO of the Institute for Progress made his support for Burgum very clear, saying “Excited to see Burgum land a cabinet role in the new administration. He’s a YIMBY abundance guy.” Aidan Mackenzie, an infrastructure fellow at the Institute for Progress, also chimed in, adding “I think it was a really good pick.”
When speaking about Trump’s intent to nominate Burgum to lead the Department of the interior, CEO of the Inclusive Abundance Initiative, Derek Kaufman said “We are excited for the abundance community to resume work with the new administration on electricity transmission and permitting reform, which came so close to becoming law at the end of 2024.”
Alex Trembath of the Breakthrough Institute celebrated Burgum’s first day in the Trump administration simply, posting a quote from Burgum that reads simply: “We are entering an era of abundance”
Armand Domalewski, a self-appointed abundance influencer with an increasingly prominent voice in the abundance world, celebrated Burgum’s appointment, posting “BURGUM BROS WE ARE SO BACK.”
Thomas Hochman of the Foundation for American Innovation has been particularly thrilled with Burgum’s inclusion in the Trump administration, declaring “In Burgum we trust” and celebrating Burgum’s role in exempting companies from the Endangered Species Act and in ensuring further fossil fuel exploitation.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright
Oil and gas magnate Chris Wright is perhaps the single most popular Trump appointee among the Abundance crowd. Politico described his nomination as having brought together “unlikely friends” to support “Chris Wright’s ‘energy abundance’ future” and as being backed by “the loose coalition of analysts and writers pushing for an ‘abundance agenda.’”
Inclusive Abundance’s Derek Kaufman has praised Wright’s appointment as a win for abundance and helpfully pointed out that “The word ‘abundance’ appears 11 times in the confirmation hearing transcript for President Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Energy, Chris Wright. It was invoked by Senators across the political spectrum, ranging from Mike Lee (R-UT) to Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to Martin Heinrich (D-NM).”
In their $120 million abundance grant announcement, Open Philanthropy celebrated the conservative embrace of abundist ideas, citing Wright’s appointment as evidence. “On the right, President Trump has issued an executive order focused on reducing energy costs […] and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has argued for the removal of burdensome regulations on nuclear power.”
Institute for Progress’ Aidan Mackenzie also praised Chris Wright’s nomination, saying “Both Burgum and Chris Wright seem committed to an all-of-the-above approach to energy; they’re very pro-oil and gas, but they’re also excited about forms of clean energy, especially nuclear and geothermal.”
The Breakthrough Institute’s Alex Trembath even defended Wright’s assertion that climate change is not a crisis, saying “Chris Wright’s claim that climate change is not a “crisis” is, while not the last word on the subject, much more scientifically defensible than the claims of his environmentalist critics.” Trembath later posted “Chris Wright: smart choice.”
Thomas Hochman summed up his opinion of the appointment simply: “Wright pursuing an all-of-the-above approach to energy production… pretty ideal”
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya
The Trump administration has utterly dismantled the National Institutes of Health and is currently proposing a 40% cut, which would devastate scientific advancement for generations. But don’t worry, abundists have full confidence in Trump’s NIH Director, Jay Bhattacharya. While he does have a medical degree, Bhattacharya has never practiced medicine nor even completed a medical residency.
Open Philanthropy was bullish on Bhattacharya in March, when they said, “There is also cross-partisan interest in improving science policy, from newly nominated NIH director Jay Bhattacharya’s calls for a focus on reproducibility and funding high impact research, to the launch of the new Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships directorate at the NSF during the Biden administration.” Tragically, the Trump administration has proved less interested in funding research than cutting it, throwing the NSF that Open Philanthropy was so excited about into complete chaos.
The Foundation for American Innovation’s Chief Economist, Samuel Hammond, said Bhattacharya’s appointment was cause for optimism, posting “That said, how many people do you know going into HHS? The folks I know around Jim O’Neill, Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Makary are extremely high quality and serious about reform. Doesn’t mean I’ll agree with all their ideas, but there are some genuine reasons for optimism if you know anything at all ahout [sic] the behind the scenes.”
Institute for Progress’ co-founder and co-CEO, Caleb Watney, elevated Bhattacharya’s analysis of the “increasing difficulty of funding novel research and younger scholars at the NIH,” a hobbyhorse of the abundance community, and said he was “very glad to see a larger focus on this issue.”