Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed Elon Musk’s announcement that he is forming a new political party in response to President Trump signing his massive tax and spending plan that is expected to add trillions to the national debt.
Mr. Bessent, who reportedly had dustups with Mr. Musk at the White House when he was leading the Department of Government Efficiency, suggested the billionaire’s bid to create a new American Party will be short-lived and predicted he will be forced to turn his attention back to his day job.
“The principles of DOGE were very popular, I think, if you look at the polling, Elon was not,” Mr. Bessent said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Mr. Bessent said Mr. Musk left DOGE in part because the board of directors at his companies wanted him to refocus his energy on running the companies.
“So I imagine that those board of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and would be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities,” he said.
Mr. Musk has gone from a Trump world darling and major campaign donor to showering criticism on the president’s signature piece of legislation, which he signed into law on July 4th.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Mr. Musk posted Saturday on X. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
Mr. Musk has warned that the law will push the nation deeper into a sea of red ink, saddling future generations with more debt.
He also vowed to support primary challengers against Republicans who supported the bill after casting themselves as deficit hawks.
“The Republican Party has a clean sweep of the executive, legislative and judicial branches and STILL had the nerve to massively increase the size of government, expanding the national debt by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS,” Mr. Musk posted Sunday on X.