Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s lavish nuptials spiraled into a tone-deaf circus that laid bare the grotesque gap between the ultra-rich and working Americans, according to writer Liz Plank.

Plank, an award-winning journalist, joined The Daily Beast Podcast to discuss her viral Substack article on the multimillion-dollar, celebrity-stacked celebration in Venice, Italy, over the weekend. “Paper Straws for You, Private Jets for Them,” she titled the piece.

“People who have a lot of money and feel secure in that don’t do these lavish displays of wealth. To your point, 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.’”

The 200 guests of the Amazon founder and former journalist included Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, much of the Kardashian clan, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Karlie Kloss and husband Joshua Kushner, Usher, and Sydney Sweeney. Many of them arrived on private jets, with more than 95 reportedly expected to land in the historic city that is at real risk of disappearing under rising sea levels.

Coles suggested the brash display happened, perhaps in part because Donald Trump—a man whose maximalist inclinations have left the Oval Office draped in gold—“has given permission to everybody to release their inner vulgarian.”

“It used to be that billionaires were, for the most part, relatively discreet about their wealth,” Coles observed. “Now it seems to be like, ‘No, we’re going to show off as much as we possibly can, and we’re really going to enjoy it.’”

“As the confetti settles in Venice,” she continued, “in New York, we are now wrestling with a Democratic socialist who’s won the New York primary.”

A previously little-known state lawmaker, Zohran Mamdani, stunned former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic contest for New York City mayor last week after running on a platform of making the city more affordable for working-class people.

“And I can’t help feeling the two are connected,” Coles added.

Plank suggested the Bezos wedding could catalyze progressive messaging focused on the working class and economic justice, pointing to recent global backlash to extreme wealth and inequality—from Zohran’s win in New York to a defiant Pride march in Hungary. She also discussed the public disgust over Vogue‘s Sánchez bridal cover, noting, “I think a lot of people feel powerless right now.”

And as all this plays out, senators are debating over a spending bill at the heart of Trump’s domestic agenda, which would gut social safety net programs like Medicaid, hand tax breaks to the wealthy and hike the national debt by trillions.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that close to 12 million Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill passes.

Wheelchair users protesting the cuts to Medicaid were zip-tied and arrested by Capitol Hill police last week in a stunning scene caught on video.

Plank spoke of the “contrast” between those images and a Bezos yacht foam party and private jet bonanza.

“There was something very ironic about my paper straw disintegrating in my mouth as I was watching Lauren Sanchez, you know, inherit $260 billion,” she said.

“I want rich people to have a great summer. I really do,” she added. “And it will be a lot easier if we had proper taxation on everybody, and we had social services that weren’t being taken away to create a tax cut for rich people to have other swimming pools and other private jets at the cost of lifesaving services for for people who do pay taxes.”