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Scott Bessent vs Howard Lutnick: Elon Musk wants this contender to be Trump’s Treasury Secretary
Elon Musk has come up with a suggestion as President-elect Donald Trump's quest for a new Treasury Department chief continues.
Elon Musk has come up with a suggestion as President-elect Donald Trump's quest for a new Treasury Department chief continues.
The Tesla CEO, who has been dubbed as “First Lady” by Trump's critics due to his increasing appearance at Mar-a-Lago, is openly advocating the next president to choose one of the two personswho are seen as candidates for Treasury secretary.
Musk made his appeal public on Saturday, the day he attended the UFC championship at Madison Square Garden with the president-elect.
“Would be interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback,” X owner Musk wrote.
“My view [for what it’s worth] is that [Scott] Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas [Howard Lutnick] will actually enact change. Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another,” he added.
Know about Bessent and Lutnick
With Trump pushing out a steadily divisive slate of nominations for other Cabinet positions in the last week, Bessent and Lutnick have become two front-runners for the position.
Compared to Matt Gaetz, Trump's choice for attorney general, who is currently facing strong Republican skepticism due to probe by the agency and the House Ethics Committee for purportedly having sex with a minor, whoever Trump nominates will probably have a much easier time getting confirmed. Gaetz disputes the allegations.
At present, Lutnick is the head of Trump's transition team in the White House. He recently told CNN that Trump would not appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccination conspiracist and opponent of the Covid shutdown, as the head of Health and Human Services. Last week, the President-elect nominated Kennedy for that very position. He has a billion-dollar net worth and is the chief executive officer and principal owner of the securities company Cantor Fitzgerald.
On the other hand, Steve Bannon, who was recently released from MAGAworld architect, is backing Lutnick's opponent, Scott Bessent, for the position.
Speaking with The Washington Post in an interview, Jason Furman, who served as the deputy director of Barack Obama's National Economic Council, said Bessent was “well within the mainstream of past Treasury secretaries.”
Bessent was employed at George Soros's organisation, Soros Fund Management (SFM), before leaving to start his own business, Key Square organization, alongside another SFM alum.
While Lutnick approached the president-elect directly some time ago for the post, Bessent was interviewed for the position on Friday.
