(Bloomberg) — Billionaire Elon Musk has expressed support for Howard Lutnick in the race to be President-elect Donald Trump’s next Treasury secretary, offering a late boost to the Cantor Fitzgerald CEO’s candidacy.
Musk said on his social media platform X that he saw Lutnick as a disruptor compared to Key Square Group LP founder Scott Bessent, another finalist for the job who met with Trump on Friday.
Musk said he sees Bessent as “a business-as-usual choice,” while Lutnick “will actually enact change,” and encouraged others to weigh in publicly on the decision. Lutnick is currently serving as co-chair of Trump’s transition effort.
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“Bankrupt America”
“Business as usual is bankrupting America, so we need to change one way or another,” Musk said. A representative for Lutnick declined to comment.
Musk’s tweet was in response to Conservation Equity Management founder Kyle Bass, who tweeted that Bessent was “eminently more qualified than Howard Lutnick to run the US Treasury” and understood “markets, economics, people and geopolitics better than anyone I’ve ever interacted with.”
A representative for Bessent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Brake on the billionaire
Musk has been a regular presence at Trump’s side since Election Day, participating in transition meetings, calls and meetings with foreign leaders and earning his own appointment to a panel examining government efficiency.
But the limits of his political influence were seen this week when Senate Republicans elected John Thune of South Dakota over Rick Scott of Florida — whom Musk had publicly endorsed — as their next leader.
Lobbying efforts for the Treasury position, which will be at the center of Trump’s ambitious agenda to overhaul tariff and tax policy, have intensified in recent days, with the fight for the position spreading into the headlines. Larry Kudlow, former director of Trump’s National Economic Council, informed the president-elect’s team that he did not want a role in the new administration.
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