Explosive White House Showdown: Musk and Bessant Clash Over IRS, Economy
A heated confrontation reportedly erupted at the White House recently, involving entrepreneur Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant. Witnesses described a “yelling match” or “shouting match” between the two men in front of former President Trump. While the altercation did not escalate to physical blows, it was described as “loud, and I mean loud,” illustrating a growing power clash between Musk and members of Trump’s cabinet. Reports indicate that the argument became intense enough that “f-bombs started to fly”.
Some might see this as unusual, with mainstream media highlighting it as a “fight erupts” event. However, we view it as potentially part of a healthy debate process, especially when dealing with multiple strong-willed individuals. These kinds of tough conversations are often necessary, even if they lead to conflict, because America is at a critical inflection point with huge challenges ahead, like securing borders, fixing the economy, bringing back manufacturing, and figuring out how to deal with AI. White House press secretary Caroline Levit echoed a similar sentiment, stating that disagreements sometimes occur among the president’s staff and cabinet, but ultimately President Trump is the decision-maker.
The core of the argument reportedly centered on who was the best candidate to lead the IRS. According to reports, acting IRS commissioner Gary Shipley took the position after being recommended by Musk, but Bessant was not informed of this change. Days later, Trump replaced Shipley with Bessant’s choice, Michael Falender. Trump ultimately chose Bessant, who is described as fighting to control agencies under his purview. A supporter of Bessant, briefed on the argument, noted that while Scott Bessant is typically “mild-mannered,” he does have his limits and “can roar”. The same source added that Bessant “cannot stand Musk,” describing this animosity as going “pretty deep and pretty far back,” but added that Bessant is “acting like a grown-up about it”. Bessant is also credited with helping stabilize messaging around the administration’s trade actions, which helped soothe the markets.
We believe Elon might be getting frustrated with the pace of change regarding the economy and potentially the performance of Tesla stock. As Tesla shareholders ourselves, we’ve seen the stock fluctuate significantly, and we think there’s pressure from what we call “globalist people” who might want to tank the stock to encourage Musk to leave the federal government.
Looking ahead, Musk has already announced plans to step back from his advising role within the administration, which he refers to as his “Doge” work. He stated on an earnings call that his “timeline allocation of Doge” would drop significantly, starting soon. He plans to spend only one or two days advising the White House. We think this break is fine, allowing him to focus on Tesla projects like the robo taxi and the Cybertruck, which we own and have seen has had challenges. We hope he can return later, perhaps in 2027, once significant policy changes, like proposed cuts to agencies such as USAID and DEI programs, have been codified into law. We are eager to see more action on proposals like eliminating taxes on tips and overtime and significantly increasing deportations. While we understand these things take time to ramp up, we, like many Americans, are impatient for change and giving key figures about six months before offering stronger criticism, though we’ve been vocal about others, like Pam Bondi, whom we view as having accomplished little despite significant presence.
In our view, reporting on heated arguments like this is a positive sign. People involved in trying to fix the country shouldn’t shy away from tough, direct conversations simply to avoid offending others. The business of fixing the country won’t be easy or pretty, and sometimes, intense debate is part of that necessary process.
