Jumping onto the stage and leaping into the air with his arms outstretched, Elon Musk looked like a man who had just won the lottery.
Donald Trump had asked him to take the stage for the first time at an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last October, the city where, just months earlier, the former president had narrowly survived an assassin’s bullet.
“He’s a really incredible guy, and I don’t say that very often,” Trump declared of the tycoon who had invested no less than £211 million in his second presidential campaign.
“As you can see, I’m not just Maga (Make America Great Again), I’m the dark Maga,” Musk told the cheering crowd while pointing to his Trump cap, not the usual red one, but black.
It was clearly a joke, but since then his critics could say that a truer word has never been said in jest, as Musk has behaved even more bellicose and savage than Trump himself.
The mercurial Musk has picked fights with politicians around the world, from Republicans in Washington over government spending to European administrations, notably Keir Starmer over the grooming gang scandal in northern England and also in Germany over immigration and crime.
Less than two weeks before Trump is sworn in, Musk has effectively taken over his presidency, absorbing the world’s attention with his endless outbursts on X, his social media platform on which he has 211 million followers.
But has the exuberant tech mogul, who tweets all night while running a string of global businesses, already gone too far, risking ending his “bromance” with the president-elect before his second term has even begun? That intriguing possibility has now been raised by Trump biographer and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
Less than two weeks before Donald Trump is sworn in, Elon Musk has effectively hijacked his presidency.
Jumping onto the stage and leaping into the air with his arms outstretched, Elon Musk looked like a man who had just won the lottery.
Nicknamed the ‘Trump Whisperer’ for her deep connections in Donald’s court, Haberman says she has been told Trump is already growing tired of the company of the world’s richest man.
Just two years ago, Musk said he wished Trump would “hang up his hat and sail off into the sunset.” But Haberman says he’s not surprised that Musk has settled into the heart of Trump’s inner circle, since “he has a huge amount of money that he used to help Trump” and “Trump equates wealth with intelligence.”
However, speaking on the On With Kara Swisher podcast series, Haberman added: “I think the open question is how long it lasts.” An old friend of Trump’s said something to me recently about Trump being a “one-ring circus.” I’m not sure Musk has realized it yet. And Trump complains a little to people that Musk is around a lot.”
Musk “goes around a lot” mainly because, since the November election, he has rented a “cabin” (usually costing at least £1,600 a night) in the grounds of Trump’s main home, his private Mar-a-Lago club. in Palm Beach, Florida. Consequently, it is just two hundred feet from the mansion where Trump is forming his next administration.
Musk has been able to attend meetings and dinners with the president-elect, such as the one he recently held with Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos, and join his phone calls.
Haberman said that by moving to the Mar-a-Lago complex, Musk had “parked himself in Trump’s face.”
He added that Democrats’ jibes about ‘President Musk’ and Trump’s first lady being named ‘Elonia’ are increasingly irritating the 78-year-old. “It definitely bothers him. The phrase ‘President Musk’ was always going to be a way to get him,” he said.
“Trump is not a wind-up toy, but there are certainly very specific things that can make him angry.”
Dubbed the ‘Trump Whisperer’ for her deep connections in Donald’s court, Maggie Haberman says she has been told Trump is already growing tired of the company of the world’s richest man.
President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Haberman said that by moving into the complex, Musk had “parked himself in Trump’s face.”
Trump insiders have told the news website Mediaite as much, claiming that the president-elect was growing tired of Musk’s “omnipresence” and the attention he was attracting.
He also noted that Musk appears to have been “more willing to irritate Trump than many others, and less worried about what that might mean.”
Trump insiders have told the news website Mediaite as much, claiming that the president-elect was growing tired of Musk’s “omnipresence” and the attention he was attracting.
“Trump is totally angry,” said a source who worked on the 2024 election campaign. ‘There is a Chinese saying: “Two tigers cannot live on the top of a mountain.”‘
Another insider was quoted as saying: “Someone who is so present and has influence would be a pain… I mean, the guy came in, gave a bunch of money and wants to take over.”
It’s worth noting that Musk has made a few enemies in the Trump camp with his supposedly aggressive behavior towards them, so there may be a strong element of wishful thinking that he’s on his way out.
At the moment, there are no public signs of a breakup. Trump has asked Musk to co-lead (with fellow conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy) a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or Doge, although skeptics point out that only Congress can create new federal agencies and that this department is unlikely to emerge. of the road. floor.
That could give Trump the perfect excuse to avoid his “first friend” (as the tycoon calls himself), although Musk could always ask for something more.
After all, while his opponents complain that he has never been elected to public office (and therefore should not be given a top job now), neither was Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, when the young and ambitious real estate developer was put in charge of running the United States. efforts to bring peace to the Middle East during his first term.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had not been elected to office when the ambitious young real estate developer was put in charge of leading American efforts to bring peace to the Middle East during his first term.
Experts predict that Musk will want to stay as physically close to Trump as possible, which, as of Jan. 20, means an office on the White House campus. And if not, at least have one of the prized “access to all areas” security passes that Trump used to hand out to his favorite cronies during his first term and that would allow Musk to roam the White House at will.
Haberman doesn’t think Musk will get the job or the pass: He has too many enemies, and Trump insiders don’t want him, of all people, to “run this way,” he says.
But at the same time, he acknowledges that Trump is traditionally slow to let go of people who have been useful to him and rarely exiles anyone completely.
In fact, some argue that Trump cannot afford to antagonize Musk. This is not just due to his enormous wealth – and his willingness to invest it in politics – or his ownership of the social media platform that remains the most powerful communication channel in the United States.
The United States has become increasingly dependent (some say too much) on Musk’s businesses. The 53-year-old, worth an estimated £340bn, controls the Starlink satellite network, which plays a crucial defense role and which Ukraine’s military relies on for internet coverage.
NASA needs Musk’s SpaceX rockets to carry American equipment and astronauts to space. Having taken his shilling and let him into the gang, Trump may find it difficult to ignore Musk, who knows how to hold grudges as much as he does. There will surely be many in Whitehall and other European governments who sincerely hope that Trump will rein it in… and soon.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink satellites launches from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Insiders say that when Musk officially becomes part of the next Trump administration, he will have to comply with the usual restrictions on presidential officials.
Some Washington experts say this is bound to happen. While it may be nice to visit the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago, once he is leader of the free world, this becomes much more difficult.
Insiders say that when Musk officially becomes part of the next Trump administration, he will have to comply with the usual restrictions on presidential officials.
However, Musk is not very good at moderation, while Trump is not very good at following the rules. And neither of the two, similar in more ways than their enormous selfishness, like to share the stage.
As Americans approach one of the most unpredictable presidencies in living memory, they can at least be assured of one certainty. Born in South Africa to non-American parents, Musk is prohibited by the Constitution from running for president.