CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins clarified that her assessment of the jockeying around President-elect Donald Trump by MAGA figures like Steve Bannon and Elon Musk was “not a compliment.”
Palace intrigue is in ample supply as CEOs — like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman —and others descend on Mar-a-lago and Trump’s upcoming inauguration to gain Trump’s favor, while loyal insiders like Bannon bristle at the burrowing of newcomers like Musk.
On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins told her panel that the clashes for Trump’s attention are “like high school”:
COLLINS: The people who will be there, though, are people who are certainly trying to get in good with Trump. I mean, Elon Musk already certainly was there. Raised a lot of money for him.
But Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman from OpenAI, we’ve just heard, is going. I think, believe, potentially, Tim Cook is also going to be attending. A lot of these are people who either Trump said some of them should be in jail, or was famously critical of them, or vice versa.
What is your view, as a member of Congress, with oversight? They have a lot of these contracts, that these guys have with the federal government. What’s your view of that?
SUOZZI: Well, attending the inauguration, I mean, that’s, I think–
COLLINS: And donating.
SUOZZI: –I think it’s kind of normal. But there’s a lot of financial interest involved here, right now, in that, for example, if TikTok is banned in the United States of America, where’s that business going to go? It’s going to all go to Facebook and to Meta.
But that’s, to him showing up at the inauguration or contributing to the inauguration, that’s happened throughout history. We just have to have our eyes open, as we go along and watch what’s going on.
COLLINS: But it does come as there’s a fascinating split happening inside the MAGA world, between Elon Musk and Steve Bannon.
And Steve Bannon was coming out today, saying, I will get Elon Musk kicked out by the time he’s inaugurated.
SUOZZI: Oh my gosh (ph).
COLLINS: He called him truly evil. He downplayed the relationship. He said, Of course, you get a seat at the table when you give this much money, he said, But I always argued it can’t be the head of the table.
MADDEN: Yes, well, look, first of all, what would it be a Republican Party without some internal battles, right now, particularly–
SUOZZI: Keep that up.
MADDEN: –particularly even a couple of days before we even start the inauguration, right?
But look, these type of fights are going to happen. Trump could stop it. He doesn’t. Why? He likes to see a lot of these squabbles–
SUOZZI: Yes.
MADDEN: –and then he likes to see who’s going to win and who’s not, and then sort of pick a side.
I think one of the things that’s interesting is Trump is a much more transactional politician. He is not somebody who is sort of more to an ideological viewpoint. So seeing these fights play out sort of helps them gauge which way the directions go inside of the party.
SUOZZI: They kind of — they want to be around the cool kids, you know? It’s like high school. Everybody’s like, jockeying, who’s going to be closer.
COLLINS: It is like high school. And that is not a compliment.
Congressman. Kevin Madden. Great to have you both here tonight.
