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AlterNet / Robert Reich: Opinion: Musk strikes back
AlterNet / Robert Reich - Opinion: Musk strikes back
Robert Reich
January 23, 2025
First, it was over Trump’s nominee to be treasury secretary. The two finalists were Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and Trump’s co-transition chair, and Scott Bessent, the founder of investment firm Key Square Capital Management.
Lutnick turned for help to Elon Musk, who posted on his X that Lutnick would be a better choice for treasury secretary than Bessent, because “Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change. Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.”
I’ve spent quite some time around presidents and president-elects and even advised them about personnel decisions. The most basic rule of such advice-giving is you never make your advice public because it puts a president or president-elect in the awkward position of conspicuously backing you or not.
In this case, Trump didn’t back Musk’s candidate, and business-as-usual Bessent will be treasury secretary.
The problem for Musk isn’t that he lost this skirmish. It’s that he got into it publicly at all.
/snip
Robert Reich
January 23, 2025
First, it was over Trump’s nominee to be treasury secretary. The two finalists were Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and Trump’s co-transition chair, and Scott Bessent, the founder of investment firm Key Square Capital Management.
Lutnick turned for help to Elon Musk, who posted on his X that Lutnick would be a better choice for treasury secretary than Bessent, because “Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change. Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.”
I’ve spent quite some time around presidents and president-elects and even advised them about personnel decisions. The most basic rule of such advice-giving is you never make your advice public because it puts a president or president-elect in the awkward position of conspicuously backing you or not.
In this case, Trump didn’t back Musk’s candidate, and business-as-usual Bessent will be treasury secretary.
The problem for Musk isn’t that he lost this skirmish. It’s that he got into it publicly at all.
/snip