Donald Trump’s transition team announced Wednesday that billionaire investor Carl Icahn would serve as a special advisor to the President-elect on issues relating to regulatory reform.
“Carl was with me from the beginning and with his being one of the world’s great businessmen, that was something I truly appreciated,” Trump said in a statement. “He is not only a brilliant negotiator, but also someone who is innately able to predict the future especially having to do with finances and economies. His help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable.”
Icahn, chairman of Icahn Enterprises and a longtime investor with major stakes in AIG, Paypal, Xerox and countless others, calls himself an “activist” investor for his insistence on being involved in decision-making for the companies in which he owns shares.
He’s also yet another billionaire to join the highest levels of the Trump administration, now the wealthiest in American history. Forbes estimates Icahn’s new worth at $16.5 billion.
The press release announcing Icahn’s appointment called him “one of President-elect Trump’s earliest supporters,” although that support has proven to have limits. Last November, Icahn said there was “no way” he would be Trump’s Treasury Secretary, a decision he affirmed again after Election Day.
“I’m not ever going to be secretary of anything in Washington,” he said a year ago, after briefly saying he would accept such an offer.
Still, Trump has often sought Icahn’s advice. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Icahn was advising Trump on the Environmental Protection Agency in the days before Trump nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for the job. The Journal also reported that Icahn was involved in the search for a new chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a crucially important position for activist investors such as himself.
This is good. Just like he does with companies, he can break up the country into parts and create an absolute mess, while making himself a lot of money. What could go wrong?
Oh goody! Like Manson offering advice on capital punishment.
Donnie needs to find out how to become a " real " billionaire …
Won’t read the manual —
I’m so pleased to know that trump’s thinkin’ about the little guy …the working stiff who voted for him by hob nobbing with billionaires and appointing them (and the generals) to his cabinet. Oh, and draining the swamp in DC.
OK, no more snark.
I’m hoping those low information folks who voted for trump are aware of what he’s up to. That he in fact does not care about anyone but himself. That his kids are doing their best to fleece the rubes. That Newt thinks the nascent 1st family is above the law. I hope buyer’s remorse sets in …in a big way.
edit
I would wish to see him fail but I care about my country and its people who would necessarily get hurt along the way.
Good to see that Trump is compensating for his relative youth and inexperience by hiring someone ten years his senior.