As President-elect Donald Trump makes a flurry of decisions to fill out his incoming administration’s Cupboard, the lobbying for key positions has been fierce behind closed doorways — and generally publicly.
Now billionaire and key Trump ally Elon Musk is asking for extra direct public enter into the decision-making course of for at the least one prime submit: the top of the Treasury Division.
“Would be interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback,” Musk, who Trump has already tapped to co-lead a fee tasked with rising authorities spending effectivity, posted Saturday on the X social media platform he owns.
Musk then used the remainder of his submit to grow to be the primary participant within the public ballot he was proposing. He endorsed Howard Lutnick, the CEO of monetary companies agency Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of Trump’s transition group forward of Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2025, over hedge fund supervisor Scott Bessent.
Musk mentioned in his submit that “Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change.”
“Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change,” he mentioned.
Each Lutnick and Bessent have been talked about as doable picks to steer the Treasury Division. Bessent is taken into account the extra typical, business-friendly alternative. He’s skeptical about cryptocurrency, whereas Lutnick has recommended it might be used for folks to pay their taxes.
A short while later, Trump’s decide to steer his Well being and Human Providers Division, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., additionally endorsed Lutnick, posting on his personal X account, “Bitcoin is the currency of freedom, a hedge against inflation for middle class Americans.”
“Bitcoin will have no stronger advocate than Howard Lutnik,” he wrote, misspelling Lutnick’s final title.
Trump has already introduced many picks in latest days, together with his alternative for Secretary of State, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and lawyer basic, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Treasury is an important slot he has left to fill, however the president-elect additionally has but to announce decisions for different roles, together with the heads of the Schooling and Labor Departments — and plenty of main prospects have been jockeying to enhance their standing with Trump.
Individually, Trump mentioned he’d picked a member of his authorized group and former federal prosecutor, Will Scharf, as assistant to the president and White Home employees secretary.
That announcement got here as Republican Home Speaker Mike Johnson was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seaside, Florida, this weekend, and assembly with the president-elect. Trump was additionally set to move to Saturday night time’s UFC heavyweight championship combat between Stipe Miocic and Jon Jones at New York’s Madison Sq. Backyard.
Apart from a day journey to Washington this week to fulfill for practically two hours with President Joe Biden, and individually deal with Home Republicans, Trump has been spending his time since his Election Day victory at Mar-a-Lago, which has hosted galas and conservative occasions all through the week,
A return to Madison Sq. Backyard means revisiting the place the place a comic brought on an uproar at a Trump rally final month by likening Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.” But Trump continues to relish visits to New York, the place he lived for many years.
Trump additionally has been near Final Combating Championship President Dana White for greater than 20 years.
White hosted a 2001 UFC battle at Trump Taj Mahal, a former casino-hotel in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, and Trump has steadily attended UFC matches since – together with throughout his 2024 marketing campaign. Trump has turned up at fights just lately with well-known entourages, together with White, musician Child Rock and former Fox Information Channel host Tucker Carlson.
In 2018, throughout Trump’s first time period, he and White starred in a UFC video the place the then-president was known as the “Combatant In Chief.”
As Trump has strengthened his grip on the nationwide Republican Celebration over the past near-decade, White’s private political profile has grown exponentially. White spoke on the 2016 and 2020 Republican conventions, and when the occasion gathered in Milwaukee this previous July. He additionally addressed the group at Trump’s Florida victory occasion within the wee hours of the morning after Election Day.
“This is what happens when the machine comes after you,” White mentioned then. “What you’ve seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like: couldn’t stop him. He keeps going forward. He doesn’t quit.”
