By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-16 20:46:27 | Updated at 2024-11-17 00:50:19
4 hours ago
As US president-elect Donald Trump makes a flurry of choices to fill out his incoming administration’s cabinet, the lobbying for key positions has been fierce behind closed doors – and sometimes publicly.
Now billionaire and key Trump ally Elon Musk is calling for more direct public input into the decision-making process for at least one top post: the head of the US Treasury Department.
“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 commission tasked with increasing government spending efficiency, posted Saturday on the X social media platform he owns.
Musk then used the rest of his post to become the first participant in the public poll he was proposing.
He endorsed Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of Trump’s transition team ahead of Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2025, over hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.
Musk said in his post 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 said.
