Former NASA nominee Jared Isaacman is getting one other shot at operating the house company—and it’s no coincidence that it comes simply as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have kissed and made up.
Isaacman, the non-public astronaut and longtime Musk ally who was tossed from rivalry to steer the company earlier this yr, met with appearing NASA Administrator Sean Duffy this week to debate getting into the function, NASA press secretary Bethany Stephens advised Reuters.
Jared Isaacman
“Secretary Duffy and Jared Isaacman had an excellent meeting yesterday,” she mentioned. “At President Trump’s direction, Secretary Duffy in his capacity as acting NASA Administrator is meeting with and vetting several candidates for the permanent role.”
Isaacman’s first nomination got here final December at Musk’s urging. However when Trump and Musk had their high-profile falling out this spring, Isaacman paid the value, with Trump yanking his nomination and putting in Duffy as appearing chief.
However now the political climate has shifted once more. Musk and Trump have smoothed issues over, and Isaacman is all of a sudden again within the combine. His renewed consideration is a transparent reminder of how loyalty—to Trump and people near him—can carry as a lot weight as a résumé.
Trump himself has met with Isaacman a number of instances concerning the job, together with in latest weeks, based on CNBC. Isaacman additionally attended Trump’s September dinner for tech energy gamers on the White Home, although Musk skipped it. Extra just lately, they sat down a number of extra instances to debate house coverage.
The reversal is outstanding. Just some months in the past, Trump referred to as Isaacman a “blue-blooded Democrat” and mentioned it was “inappropriate” for Musk’s shut pal to run an company so central to Musk’s enterprise empire.
Isaacman isn’t a stranger to house. He’s flown twice with SpaceX, and his firm Shift4 has invested $27.5 million in Musk’s rockets. After dropping the nomination, he stepped down as his firm’s CEO and shifted to government chairman.
SpaceX’s Starship makes a take a look at flight from Texas on Might 27.
“Even knowing the outcome, I would do it all over again,” he advised buyers on the time.
If he will get the nod this time, it’ll be at a second when NASA is already stretched skinny. Trump has proposed slashing its funds by roughly 25%, and round 4,000 workers have taken buyouts as a part of Musk’s initiative with the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity.
And whereas Trump toys with denying federal employees again pay through the GOP’s authorities shutdown, NASA has quietly carved out exceptions for missions involving Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin—each Trump allies—whereas everybody else waits.
In the meantime, Duffy—an ex-MTV actuality star now carrying a number of hats within the Trump administration—has been busy selecting fights with unpaid federal employees. Because the shutdown presses on, he threatened to punish air site visitors controllers who name in sick, whilst journey chaos mounts.
Finally, if Isaacman lands the job, it’ll be another instance of how Trumpworld works: Keep loyal, keep shut—or keep out.
