Tech billionaire Elon Musk risks alienating himself from the president-elect after the battle over who will become Donald Trump‘s treasury secretary spilled out into the public.
Musk, along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., took to social media this weekend to make a last-minute bid for Howard Lutnick, the billionaire CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald who co-led Trump’s transition team, as the next enforcer of Trump’s economic vision.
“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change,” Musk wrote on X, the company he owns, to push Trump not to select investor and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as treasury secretary.
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Bessent, unlike Lutnick, is viewed as the more traditional, establishment-minded nominee, which appears off-putting to Trump supporters, who want more change agents in the second administration. He is viewed more closely to Steven Mnuchin, who served as treasury secretary under Trump’s first term.
Kennedy claimed that Lutnick’s support of bitcoin, which Trump has supported, made him the better pick for treasury secretary.
“Bitcoin is the currency of freedom, a hedge against inflation for middle class Americans, a remedy against the dollar’s downgrade from the world’s reserve currency, and the offramp from a ruinous national debt,” he wrote. “Bitcoin will have no stronger advocate than Howard Lutnik.”
The public pressure for Trump to select Lutnick appears to be backfiring after the president-elect had been announcing administration nominees with overwhelming speed.
Trump is now reportedly eyeing Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management, Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s trade policy adviser, and Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor, as possible picks.
“Trump cannot be bullied and won’t be bullied,” a Republican consultant who requested anonymity to speak freely said. “And it seems clear to me that Musk, specifically, and perhaps Kennedy, to some extent, are grossly overplaying their hands here.”
Musk has remained closely at Trump’s side and at Mar-a-Lago in the run-up and aftermath of the election. His super PAC spent more than $100 million to boost Trump’s campaign ground game and even hosted a $1 million daily giveaway. Trump rewarded him by appointing him to lead the Department of Government Efficiency with Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Elon contributed more to support Trump’s election and did more to help Trump win than anyone. Period, it’s not even close,” a second Republican strategist said. “So, I think he’s earned the right to … not only have opinions but to share them. Ultimately, it’s Trump’s decision what he wants to do.”
Trump, at first, teased Musk against outshining him. He praised Musk as “a new star” before later quipping to the House GOP Conference last week that “Elon won’t go home,” referring to Musk’s prolonged presence in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“I can’t get rid of him. Until I don’t like him,” Trump added.
The billionaire mogul’s presence at Mar-a-Lago gave off the impression he was a shadow president. He joined a Trump phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and met privately with Iran’s United Nations ambassador. Musk has also participated in interviewing for nearly every job in Trump’s transition, according to the New York Times.
But Musk’s public advocacy for administration nominees could risk offending Trump’s inner circle.
The tech billionaire attempted to muscle Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) as incoming Senate majority leader last week. But the pressure was unsuccessful as Scott failed to advance past the first round of voting and lost out to Sen. John Thune (R-SD).
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The failure to convince GOP senators to make Scott their next leader is unsurprising, given the establishment acumen that Thune and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), his top challenger, built up over years as they battled to replace outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
“Scott was never a plausible majority leader,” the second strategist said, citing a lack of viability to 27 votes from GOP senators. “I think Elon was probably doing that more to apply pressure than anything else. I don’t think he probably believed Scott was going to win.”
However, the treasury secretary could prove more consequential as Trump and his aides are reportedly displeased with the public fighting. Lutnick, according to the New York Times, may have hurt his chances.
“Trump has privately expressed frustration that Mr. Lutnick has been hanging around him too much and that he has been manipulating the transition process for his own ends,” the paper reported.
Under the guidance of incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles, Trump’s transition has little appetite for the backbiting that defined his first term. Axios reported Musk and Boris Epshteyn, a key Trump adviser, got into a “massive blowup” at Mar-a-Lago after Musk accused Epshteyn of leaking transition nominees to the media.
Whoever is selected would have prime leadership in revamping the 2025 tax cut legislation as the 2017 bill expires, and with Musk co-leading an effort to slash government waste, he likely wants a key partner as treasury secretary to help with cutting federal government spending.
A third GOP strategist, with insight into the Trump campaign’s thinking, told the Washington Examiner that the treasury position is taking on more of an outsize importance due to the economy’s role in Trump winning reelection.
The renegotiating of the tax legislation will be crucial to Trump’s second-term legacy, as the GOP will control both Congress and the White House.
“That is the one thing that they do have the votes on, but they want to make sure they get the right people in place to make sure that they can get this up the hill,” the strategist said.
Lutnick has publicly supported Trump’s embrace of tariffs and called for trimming government spending in a bid for more efficiency.
Yet Trump sees himself as the key decider of his administration and does not take lightly to being undermined.
“Despite Elon Musk being the world’s richest man and that being something that Trump respects enormously, they are still not equals in Donald Trump’s mind,” the first Republican consultant said. “Donald Trump is the one who was elected president, not Elon Musk. And if Musk wants to continue to have a place at Trump’s court, he best learn his place sooner rather than later. Or he will be cast aside, like many, many others.”
Yet the second GOP strategist claimed the Musk situation is simply the cost of doing business.
“Behind closed doors, there’s always jockeying in presidential transitions, and you’ve always got people wanting, maybe their person, or an ally of theirs, to take certain jobs versus others,” the third strategist said. “I don’t see this as any different. It’s not like Elon is the only one lobbying for people.”
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The Trump campaign did not disparage Musk when asked for comment and instead praised his attributes in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“As President Trump has said, Elon Musk is a genius, an innovator, and has literally made history by building creative, modern, and efficient systems,” said Brian Hughes, a Trump spokesman. “Elon Musk has dedicated himself to America’s future by offering to serve with President Trump to ensure our government works more efficiently and uses America’s taxpayer dollars effectively.”
