Donald Trump praises Elon Musk after ringing bell at New York Stock Exchange
WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump praised Elon Musk and other members of his incoming administration early Thursday after ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer shortly after ringing the bell, Trump described Musk, whom he has named co-leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency, as a “really good guy.”
“I guess his stock has done pretty well,” Trump said. (Musk's company Tesla is publicly traded on the exchange.) Musk, 53, is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth over $400 billion.
The former president went on to praise the performance of the stock market over the past several months, saying “everyone’s stock has done well since the election.”
Trump also praised hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, whom he has nominated to lead the Treasury Department.
“One of the things I liked about Scott is that he said long before I knew who he was that the market’s only doing well ... because they think Trump is going to win,” Trump told Cramer. “So we made Scott the Treasury secretary.”
Neither Musk nor Bessent appeared with Trump at the Stock Exchange.
Trump rang the bell opening the trading markets to celebrate the announcement that he is Time magazine’s Person of the Year. The former president stood in front of a banner with his Person of the Year cover on the front, waving and smiling at the crowd of business leaders as they chanted “U-S-A.”
Trump also was named Person of the Year in 2016 after winning his first White House bid.
As he prepares for his next administration, Trump told Cramer, major business leaders such as Musk, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have sought meetings with him.
“I know people so much they're coming out of my ears,” Trump said. Trump said he has already met with Zuckerberg and plans to speak with Bezos next week.
The president-elect brought an entourage with him to the stock exchange, including Vice President-elect JD Vance, his wife, Melania Trump, and his two daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany, and stood next to NYSE president Lynn Martin.
I’ve always said stock market to me is very – all of it, you know, all of it together – it’s very important,” Trump said. “It’s an honor to be at the New York Stock Exchange.”
Contributing: Zac Anderson