The public blowup between Donald Trump and Elon Musk “gets at some of the fissures in the whole MAGA movement as it is right now, a conglomeration of populists and idiosyncratic types,” Charles Gasparino tells me, adding that it’s proving difficult to “keep the band together.”
The senior correspondent for Fox Business has covered Musk’s “recklessness” as a business leader for years, arguing that “while there is a little cult of personality around him, or was for a long time, that has ended now,” with the public alienation of the MAGA base.
Gasparino has been waiting for the relationship between the president and the billionaire tech mogul to implode, and he couldn’t be having more fun covering the matter, as well as the broader economic implications of Trump’s return to the Oval Office. Gasparino, who is also a columnist for the New York Post, tells Vanity Fair that even with the avalanche of business news coming from the start of Trump’s second term, he’s approaching his coverage in the same way he has for decades: “Try to be fair, try to call balls and strikes, and, you know, get yelled at every now and then, which is part of the job.”
Over the years, Gasparino has built a reputation on his blunt and sometimes combative reporting style, telling me it’s in a journalist’s best interest to “invite the conflict a little bit.” He argues that covering the intersection of politics and business “necessitates a degree of fairness as well,” which is something he worries about constantly: “I don’t want to look stupid. I don’t want the network to look stupid. I don’t want the New York Post to look stupid.”
With that being said, Gasparino has pulled no punches in regard to covering Trump’s economic blunders in his second term, arguing that the president’s tariff policy is “not the answer to bringing back 1960s manufacturing.” Gasparino’s tough coverage of the president occasionally causes some headaches for him back home. Every once in a while, he’ll get a call from a member of his blue-collar family on Long Island and in Queens, requesting that he “just give the guy a break.”
The correspondent also does a fair amount of straight business and M&A reporting, covering the media-industry upheaval that has resulted in the spinning off of cable assets at both Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast, as well as Shari Redstone’s ongoing attempt to sell Paramount to Skydance amid a Trump lawsuit.
Gasparino is convinced that these are all signs of a forthcoming sellers market, arguing that “if you sat down with David [Zaslav] and Brian Roberts, gave them a martini—let’s get them loosened up—I guarantee they would say, ‘Please let Amazon and Apple buy us…because this business model of linear TV cable is just not working.’ What David is doing right now is a Band-Aid.”
Vanity Fair: I’m sure it’s been a busy first few months of reporting. What has your role looked like during a second Trump presidency?
Charles Gasparino: It’s kind of like it was the first time. I mean, despite different news, different presidency, in many ways, different people. I’ve been doing this the same way for—I’m gonna date myself. And I never really changed. I approach my job the same way today as I did probably 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. In terms of approach, there’s no difference. Try to be fair, try to call balls and strikes, and, you know, get yelled at every now and then, which is part of the job. Sometimes you get yelled at more than others, but you just suck it up and move on.
You’ve developed a reputation for being very straightforward and blunt at times with your style of reporting. Do you see that as an asset in today’s media landscape?