It is hard to tell if they thought in the whitepaper than bots could have such a big influence on Steem.
I even had for a moment the idea that reputation was the only thing which couldn't be bought on the Steem blockchain but this was a mis perception. If you do invest enough into high ranked bots, you can even buy the reputation, which for sure was not the idea in the whitepaper.
While we all do understand how it is played, that we should also not object in the fact that somebody like Trump could buy in to Steemit and would be capable a controlling a lot of the blockchain. It is like you wrote money controles the system!
Good points, @fullcoverbetting. Reputation can be gained by purchasing upvotes from high rep bots. The good thing is that I don't think one person buying in would have as much control as multiple big fish with the same agenda. The good thing is that if somebody like Trump (with that kind of money) bought in then we would all end up with more influence on the platform as the value of Steem would rise. But it would still be relative to the Big Whale who just bought in.