THE TRUMP-MUSK BROMANCE MAY BE TURNING INTO “LOVE ON THE ROCKS”
Elon Musk’s last two heavy rocket launches have exploded spectacularly, spreading debris far and wide. Is his relationship with Donald Trump headed for similar flaming destruction? They both deny that there is a growing rift between them, a denial echoed by Trump’s official spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt. Still, reports have leaked out that there is at least increasing friction between Musk and Trump’s inner circle of yes-men and advisors.
But the two men themselves not seeing eye-to-eye on every issue is only to be expected. They are both driven by massive egos, fueled by their present positions as the President of the most powerful country (militarily and economically) and the richest man in the world. They are not happy with even being questioned; much less being told “No”. At the moment, Elon Musk is an unpaid “special government employee”, which translates loosely to “unelected bureaucrat”. That puts him far beneath Donald Trump, the man who put him in that role. But Musk and his boy band (who are being paid handsomely by US taxpayers) have almost unlimited access to every part of the federal government. They are making a mess of it. They don’t know how government works. They don’t know what is waste and fraud and what is necessary expenditures, and they don’t know which employees are vital to the smooth and competent running of the various departments and agencies they are investigating. Whether they are just mistaken in a lot of areas or outright lying about what they’ve found is becoming a problem for the man who created DOGE and put Musk in charge.
The relationship between the two men seems to be holding up right now. Musk’s money was one of the deciding factors in Trump’s 2024 election. Trump worships only one thing besides himself – and that is money. Musk fully understands that the majority of his wealth is a direct result of his contacts and contracts with the US, especially SpaceX Starlink, and Tesla. He has no desire to kill the goose laying the golden eggs. Still, we have seen that all it takes to send Donald Trump off the deep end is any slight, real or imagined. Elon Musk doesn’t have much impulse control, either. The relationship could deteriorate in an instant over something trivial, with accusations and insults flying back and forth online and in the traditional media.
But what is more likely is that Trump will feel that Musk is stealing some of his thunder and sticking his nose in where he is not wanted – in foreign affairs, for instance. And Musk may finally decide that he doesn’t really need all the bad press and second-guessing from the public on his chainsaw tactics and opt to walk away. Of course, they will join hands and say that it was a mutual decision; that the DOGE initiative has done its job and saved taxpayers a fortune. It won’t be the truth; but when has that ever stopped either of them?
