Trump AI czar David Sacks urges Musk to reconsider third party push
Sacks, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, also said that he hopes Musk repairs his relationship with Trump, as the two had a public falling out over the president's 'big, beautiful bill' that ended up being signed into law on July 4.
'Look, I work for the president, and Elon is a good friend, and I hope that one day there will be a reconciliation. I do believe that Elon's objectives politically can be achieved and can best be achieved through the Republican Party and I hope to convince him of that one day, and I hope that there'll be a reconciliation, because I think Elon, and the President, there were once very good friends and I hope they will be soon again,' Sacks, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, said during his Tuesday appearance on CNBC' 'Money Movers.'
Musk, who spent nearly $300 million to help get Trump elected during the 2024 presidential election, announced the 'America Party' earlier this month, a third-party group that Musk hopes could rival the Republican and Democratic Parties.
Musk has railed against Trump's massive spending and tax bill, warning that the legislation would balloon the national debt. The president has said that Musk's opposition to the bill is because of the incentives for electric vehicles (EVs) being yanked.
The relationship between Musk and Trump turned contentious, months after Musk forcefully campaigned for the president on the trail and was eventually tapped to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The two appeared to have eased tensions, only to again start throwing jabs at each other earlier this month.
Trump slammed Musk's idea for a third party as 'ridiculous.'
'He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States – The System seems not designed for them,' Trump wrote on July 6. 'The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds!'
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Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
David Rubenstein gives his take on Trump's threats to fire Powell
President Trump has made no secret of his anger toward the Federal Reserve and its decision not to cut rates. Trump says he is not planning on firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, but he has left the door open to ousting him. The Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chairman David Rubenstein weighs in on the turmoil, explaining why he thinks Powell has "done a very good job." To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Opening Bid here. All right, for today's Power Player, I got a chance to speak with David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of global investment firm Carlyle about the ongoing saga around President Trump's dissatisfaction with Fed chair J. Powell. Trump telling reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday that he doesn't plan to fire Powell after Bloomberg and CBS reports said the chairman was on the chopping block. Here's what David Rubenstein told me about the situation. Well, President, uh, Trump just as you said, walked back that statement. So, what I just said before we went on the air, so before he went on the air is that he said he's not planning to fire Powell. As you probably know, J. Powell worked at Carlyle, and in effect for me for eight years. I hired him out of the George Herbert Walker Bush Administration, a very smart man. And you know, I recognized not everybody, uh, says he's done a perfect job, but I think he's done a very good job because he tells you what he's going to do or the Fed's likely to do before they do it, which is unusual for a lot of Fed chairs. And after it's done within 30 minutes, he will explain it exhausting detail what they did and why they did it. And I think that's helpful. You may remember in the days of, uh, William McChesney Martin or or Paul Volcker, they would do what they wanted to do and you had to guess what they did and why they did it. Now it's much more transparent. I think Jay's done a good job in that. Secondly, we haven't had a recession since J. Powell's been chairman of the Fed. Now, you know, recessions occur in the United States roughly every seven years or so, and obviously the Fed chairman is not the only person responsible for their being or not being a a recession. But I think we haven't had one because I think he managed the inflation reasonably well. Remember inflation went to 8%. And it went to 8% because um, the Bush administration or the, I'm sorry, the Trump administration and the Biden administration both both uh put a lot of money into the economy to keep us during the Covid period of time from going into recession. So we injected about five trillion dollars into the economy without corresponding tax increases. The result was some inflation. Now, some people made a mistake initially by saying it was transitory, and I think J. Powell would recognize that it wasn't transitory. But once they recognized it wasn't transitory, they began rate increases that I think dealt with the inflation problems brought it down now. Not quite where they want it to be, but lower than it had been. I think the most recent number showed about a 2.7% increase the last month, but uh, the Fed's target is 2%, so they got a way to go. David, how important is it that um, Jerome Powell finishes out this term? In terms of importance to the Federal Reserve as an institution and as the major player in markets. Well remember, the Federal Reserve has two jobs. It was set up originally to take care of inflation, make sure the currency was strong, and in the 1970s was given additional job of worry about unemployment. And the Fed is seen as being independent of the president and power because when you're independent, the theory is you can preserve the currency. You're not a subject to political pressure. And I think that's worked well for our country, and I think most people commented on that have said this worked well, and the Federal Reserve is really the crown jewel of the federal um governmental system in many ways because it's seen as very independent, uh, very merit-oriented, and I think many of the people who are most respected in our country over the years have been chairs of the Federal Reserve like Paul Volcker but and Ben Bernanke. But I I recognize that there are some people who are not happy with uh the fact that interest rates are have not gone down as much as let's say they've gone down in in Europe. But the United States is more complicated economy in some ways than Europe, and Europe had lowered interest rates because their economy was softening so much. They had to uh help the economy move forward. We haven't had that kind of softening. So, um, I J. Powell, uh to his credit, in my view, has not commented on anything that President Trump has said about him. In other words, if it were, if we I was getting beat up every day, or every occasionally from time to time by the president, any president, I probably wouldn't be as quiet as Jay has been. But Jay has basically not responded, not taken the bait. And I think uh he'd like to finish out the term if he could, which finishes in May of '26. And David, as someone that uh hired Jerome Powell, worked with him for what, eight years at at Carlyle, um how do you think he's taking these criticisms? And are you surprised that he hasn't just the hell with this? I'm I'm stepping down and I'm going to go, you know, enjoy myself for the next couple of years. I haven't talked to him specifically about it, so I'm just surmising, but my guess is that nobody likes to be criticized by the President of the United States. Who likes to be criticized by the President of the United States? No one really does, but he hasn't responded to any of the criticism, which I give him great credit for doing. I don't think I could have done that, because he's just decided to just take care of the the job he has and worry about getting inflation down, and interest rates will come down when they they are designed to come down. But remember, there is a uh a FOMC of 12 people, seven members from the Federal Reserve board and five rotating members from the various Federal Reserve boards around the country. 12 people, that's the FOMC, the Federal Open Market Committee. And they make the decision. J. Powell is the chairman, presumably he has a lot of influence, but it's not the only person making a decision. How important is it that the whoever succeeds uh Jerome Powell's Fed chair that they could be someone that is independent from the executive branch, someone that could stand up to the president, you know, because I think some of the thinking, just based on people I've talked to David, is that we get uh someone who has that direct line to President Trump, gets put in there because he promises the president they're going to cut rates, and now this person's doing everything the president asked them to do. Well, I think the markets would respond better uh if somebody is seen as independent. The candidates that have been mentioned, some of them are excellent. And I think they would be somewhat independent, but obviously, many of them have close relationship with the president. The president made it clear what he wants. Some of the people or candidates have already said they would lower interest rates, so maybe they're their existing view is that interest rates should come down and not because of presidential pressure. But I think overall, it would be a good thing for the country to have a strong Fed chair um to succeed J. Powell rather than a weak Fed chair. Out of all the names that we've heard uh and have you heard too, David, Kevin Warsh, um Kevin Hassett, Secretary Benson still in the mix, Christopher Waller at the Fed, is there one person out of that that group of four folks that are reportedly leading the uh the nomination uh or or top of mind with the president that you think would would be best suited to do this job at this moment? I know um I a number of them. I think I know three of them. Uh and I would say they are uh the three that I know um are are all talented, and all could do a good job. But until you get the job, you don't know, you know, how strong somebody's going to be and you don't know how independent they will be. Um so I I just can't say now who'd be better, but I think of the candidates that I know, all of them would be would be able to do a likely a good likely would be able to do a good job. Related Videos Powell isn't the only Fed hawk: Williams keen to hold rates Trump vs. Powell, earnings, retail sales data: 3 Things Trump-Powell to Be Continuing Headwind for Dollar, FX: Saravelos 'Sell America' Returns as Trump Raises Pressure on Powell 登入存取你的投資組合
CNN
4 minutes ago
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Analysis: The little-known tool that could force Trump's hand on the Epstein files
President Donald Trump has gone to great lengths in recent days to quash the Jeffrey Epstein fervor in his party. It doesn't seem to be working — and one particular effort to force the release of more files could spiral out of his control. Last week, Trump's Justice Department published an unsigned memo that concluded the sex offender had killed himself and that no so-called client list existed. Since then, Trump has called people who have pushed for more answers – seemingly including GOP members of Congress, top members of his own administration and MAGA influencers – 'weaklings' who have been 'duped' by a Democratic 'hoax.' His consistent message: There's nothing else to see here, move along. But Trump allies keep raising questions. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed nearly as many Republicans disapproved of the administration's handling of the matter (36%) as approved (40%). And a CNN poll showed 40% of Republicans said they were 'dissatisfied' with the government's disclosures in the Epstein case, while just 4% said they were satisfied. If Republican members of Congress truly don't want to let the issue lie, as several have indicated, they have a critical tool at their disposal: a discharge petition. It's an arcane procedure with a straightforward premise: If 218 members of the House sign one, they can force a floor vote in the chamber on anything — even if leadership opposes it. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has joined with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California to spearhead a discharge petition that would force a vote to release all of the Epstein files, and it's showing early signs of life. Two other Republicans said Wednesday they would sign the petition — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Eric Burlison of Missouri. Massie said five others have signed on to the underlying bill (but not yet the discharge petition). If six Republicans joined all 212 House Democrats on the petition, they could force the vote. We're a long way from that. And there are reasons to be skeptical this this effort will ultimately force a vote. But it still matters. Here's why. A discharge petition is an oft-invoked tool that rarely leads to an actual vote. The basicidea is that you force House leadership to hold a vote by marshalling a clear majority of the House. It requires 218 signatures – a majority of all 435 districts, rather than a majority of members present. That means it needs at least some members of the majority party to sign on, and vacancies don't lower the threshold. It rarely succeeds in forcing a vote because lawmakers in the majority are often hesitant to buck leadership. Leaders will do plenty to avoid ceding their control over the floor. So they could punish members who go this route or cut deals to avoid the embarrassment. Only about 4% of discharge petitions have historically led to actual votes, according to Brookings Institution senior fellow Sarah Binder. But the Epstein documents could animate lawmakers to take that drastic step. The modern Republican Party is chock full of true-believers who don't think Epstein killed himself and think there is a massive conspiracy involving influential people participating in sex trafficking. It might not be enough for the vast majority of House Republicans to aggressively defy leadership and Trump, but the most conspiratorial among them could be tempted. Democrats also have reason to sign on, as they've made it clear they're eager to press on an issue that divides Trump from his base. Some could have qualms about truly releasing all of the Epstein files — files that could invoke people who haven't been charged with crimes and seed unwarranted suspicions. The Justice Department has cited that and the fact that many of the documents are under seal by the courts as reasons for not releasing more. But despite those qualms, Wednesday showed this could have some momentum. And the effort is worth watching even if it doesn't ultimately force a vote, because that's not the only measure of success. As Binder has noted, the mere threat of a discharge petition can be enough to force leaders to act in one way or another. While discharge petitions only lead to actual votes on the desired measure about 4% of the time, they've led to either that or votes on similar measures about 8% of the time. It's possible the threat of embarrassing Trump, by making it look like he's not in control of his party, would be enough to spur the administration to release more. Or maybe the House could take other actions — perhaps a vote on a partial release or an investigation — to quash the dissent. So where do we go from here? It's tempting to just look at the raw numbers of members who say they'll sign the petition, and we'll certainly do that in the coming days — particularly the Republicans. But as congressional expert Matt Glassman of Georgetown University told CNN, that number can be misleading. He notes what a discharge petition really requires is not just 218 members, but 218 'hellbent' members — lawmakers that won't back down, even in the face of leadership pressure, and will really force the issue. 'Trump seems very involved here, and not too many members want to stick their necks out against him, even if it's on an issue where the Trump GOP base seems split from the president,' Glassman said. A telling detail: More Republicans are supporting the underlying bill than the discharge petition, at least for now. They don't want to go that far, yet. Getting a handful of members on board is one thing; becoming the decisive Republican and the 218th House member to greenlight something Trump doesn't want is something else entirely. The debate earlier this year over proxy voting in the House illustrates how such efforts can fizzle when leadership is determined to suppress them. GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida spearheaded a discharge petition on a measure that would allow parents of newborns to vote by proxy, and it clearly had the support of a bipartisan majority of the House — mostly Democrats, but about a dozen Republicans, too. Ultimately, rather than actually forcing that vote, Luna cut a deal with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who fought hard against her efforts, on a watered-down proposal. That's why 'hellbent' members are critical. And there's a significant difference between the proxy voting proposal and Epstein. That involved challenging Johnson, who was dead-set against the idea, even as Trump appeared amenable to it and said so publicly. A discharge petition on Epstein means going at Trump, a much more severe undertaking. If nothing else, the discharge petition will test just how serious Republicans are about getting more information about Epstein.
CNN
4 minutes ago
- CNN
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