A MAGA billionaire sensationally turned on Howard Lutnick, calling his character into question before retracting his comments and attacking him professionally instead.
Bill Ackman, a Democratic Party donor turned MAGA cheerleader, started his onslaught late Sunday by saying that President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary “profits when our economy implodes.”
The hedge fund billionaire even attacked Lutnick’s personality, calling him “indifferent” to the chaos affecting everyday Americans. “I just figured out why @howardlutnick is indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing," he wrote.
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“He and Cantor are long bonds. He profits when our economy implodes. It’s a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income. It’s an irreconcilable conflict of interest.”
The hedge fund manager referenced Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial services firm that Lutnick led for more than three decades before teaming up with Trump. Ackman was suggesting that Lutnick stands to gain as stocks tumble and investors turn to more stable bonds—forcing their prices up.
“I am long America and he is short,” Ackman said in a later post, referencing Lutnick’s perceived interest in cashing in short-term. “I am aligned with our country and our economy and he is short.”
After the Daily Beast asked Cantor Fitzgerald to comment, a spokesperson pointed to a new post from Ackman on Monday morning. In it, he appeared less harsh on Lutnick personally, but decried his decision-making.
“It was unfair of me to lash out at @howardlutnick,” Ackman wrote, before pointing out his “major policy error.”
“I don’t think he is pursuing his self interest. I am sure he is doing the best he can for the country while representing the President as Commerce Secretary. It is not an easy job and we don’t know how the sausage was made,” he went on.
He said his outburst came from frustration, adding: “I am just frustrated watching what I believe to be a major policy error occur after our country and the president have been making huge economic progress that is now at risk due to the tariffs. I would love to be proven wrong and watch this approach to tariffs and/or their resolution be enormously beneficial to our country and the global economy.”
Soon afterward Ackman appeared to point the finger at Lutnick again, as he attacked the formula used by the administration to calculate tariffs. Ackman said that it “made other nations’ tariffs appear four times larger than they actually are.”
“President @realDonaldTrump is not an economist and therefore relies on his advisors to do these calculations so he can determine policy. The global economy is being taken down because of bad math," he said, sharing an article featured on the American Economic Institute’s website that claimed the formula was “based on an error.”
He called on the White House’s economic team to change their approach before a new wave of levies come into effect on Wednesday. These will range from a 10 percent minimum all the way up to 50 percent. “The President’s advisors need to acknowledge their error before April 9th and make a course correction before the President makes a big mistake based on bad math,” Ackman said.
The president and his allies have repeatedly stated that the stock market chaos instigated by his tariffs will cause short-term pain but long-term gain.
Despite the market turmoil and ensuing fears of a global trade war and resulting recession, Lutnick has reportedly urged more and more aggressive tariffs. This, according to Politico, puts him in pole position to be the first MAGA head of Trump 2.0 to roll out of the White House if the bold approach to levies fails.
Undeterred, Lutnick has pressed ahead with his aggressive style and reaffirmed his commitment on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday. Ahead of Wednesday’s tariff tweak, he said: “The tariffs are coming. He [Trump] announced it, and he wasn’t kidding. The tariffs are coming. Of course they are.”
He added that the duties will “stay in place for days and weeks.” Since the CBS interview, global stocks erased $7.46 billion in market value. Dow futures dropped 3.3 percent Sunday evening, S&P 500 futures fell 3.8 percent, and the Nasdaq 100 futures shed 4.8 percent.
Ackman, meanwhile, is hoping for a softer approach from Trump on Monday. “The president has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system,” he said in one of his earlier posts Sunday. “Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.”
He said Trump’s tariff rollout is tantamount to “launching a global economic war against the whole world at once.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ackman’s initial claims.
