If politics is the art of the sleight of hand, then Donald Trump is one of the deftest magicians of all time — a master of creating mesmerizing spectacles, while his minions quietly rob everything in sight. This David Copperfield routine has become so mundane we are practically numb to it, but the trick Trump just pulled off for his billionaire pals was something particularly special — it could end up being one of the single biggest financial heists in history.

As news cycles were consumed by Trump deliberately inflaming social unrest and threatening a domestic military invasion, the president’s political appointees were approving a regulatory change that could transfer hundreds of billions of dollars of Americans’ retirement savings to private equity firms. Those are the Gordon Gekko–run outlets that have become famous for fleecing investors, laying off workers, gutting local economies, strip-mining media outlets and creating public health and environmental disasters — all while minting Wall Street billionaires.

The Trump administration’s new directive came just a few months after private equity billionaire Stephen Schwarzman — who had been pushing for the change — poured $3 million into a super PAC backing Trump’s reelection bid.