Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' ultra-lavish, $55 million Venetian wedding to Lauren Sánchez became a stark symbol of wealth disparity, transforming from a private celebration into a provocative display of elite excess that exposed deep societal fractures.
And the immense display of privilege could be linked back to the world that President Donald Trump has created, journalist Liz Plank told the Daily Beast Tuesday.
Plank dissected the multimillion-dollar event on The Daily Beast Podcast, branding it a tone-deaf circus that epitomizes the growing disconnect between billionaires and working Americans. Her viral Substack article, "Paper Straws for You, Private Jets for Them," captured the event's underlying message of unrestrained privilege.
“People who have a lot of money and feel secure in that don’t do these lavish displays of wealth. ... They do private things,” Plank told host Joanna Coles.
“I think it was almost less about the money and more about, ‘Look at all these friends that we have. Look at all these fancy people who like us.’”
She said that was the attitude encouraged by Trump, whose own displays of opulence include lavishing the Oval Office in gold decor.
He “has given permission to everybody to release their inner vulgarian," Coles said.
The wedding drew local protests and approximately 200 A-list celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ivanka Trump, Oprah Winfrey and the Kardashian clan. Many arrived on private jets. More than 95 aircraft were expected to land in Venice, a city literally at risk of drowning from climate change.
The wedding's extravagance coincided with serious political developments: senators debating a spending bill that could cut Medicaid, potentially leaving 12 million Americans uninsured.
The event became a lightning rod for broader discussions about economic inequality. Plank suggested it could potentially catalyze progressive messaging about economic justice, pointing to recent political shifts like Zohran Mamdani's surprising primary victory in New York.
"I want rich people to have a great summer," Plank said. "And it will be a lot easier if we had proper taxation and social services that weren't being taken away to create tax cuts for the wealthy."