Trump ally Elon Musk – the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX – signaled his support for the president-elect’s controversial bid to place the Federal Reserve under control of the White House.
Musk on Friday replied with a “100” emoji to a post on X from Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.
“The Executive Branch should be under the direction of the president. That’s how the Constitution was designed. The Federal Reserve is one of many examples of how we’ve deviated from the Constitution in that regard,” Lee wrote. “Yet another reason why we should #EndTheFed.”
Trump has promised that interest rates would come down if he won a second term in the White House and argued that the president should have a say in the bank’s decisions.
“I don’t think I should be allowed to order it, but I think I have the right to put in comments as to whether the interest rates should go up or down,” Trump told Bloomberg on Oct. 15.
During a press conference in August, Trump doubled down.
“I think that in my case, I made a lot of money, I was very successful, and I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman,” he said.
Though Trump appointed Powell in 2017, he repeatedly slammed the chairman and the central bank during his administration for not easing monetary policies quick enough.
Trump has said he has “the right to remove” Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends in 2026.
When asked by reporters if he would step down from his position if Trump asked for his resignation, Powell on Thursday said: “No.”
“Not permitted under the law,” Powell said during a press conference after the Fed cut interest rates by a quarter point two days after former president Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Musk – the richest person in the world with a net worth of $304 billion, according to Forbes – played a central role in Trump’s campaign.
The tech founder donated more than $100 million to a pro-Trump PAC, rallied on Trump’s behalf and swayed Americans to vote early with a $1 million-a-day sweepstakes.
He was even photographed awaiting the election results with Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
After Trump’s win, Musk’s net worth surged past the $300 billion mark, mostly due to Tesla’s market capitalization surpassing $1 trillion.