In the last year, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have formed a political alliance. Musk endorsed Trump for president, spent a massive amount of money on funding a pro-Trump Super PAC, and has been rewarded with his dreams of DOGE (The Department of Government Efficiency” becoming a reality under the leadership of himself and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Musk has also used his megaphone at X, formerly Twitter, to boost Trump in various ways, including letting him back on to the platform after he purchased the company.
However, there’s been much speculation that the alliance cannot possibly hold, at least not for the length of Trump’s term. Trump and Musk, after all, both have huge egos and aren’t used to being the junior partner in any coalition, and both have a long history of falling out with former allies. In 2017, Musk resigned from Trump’s business councils over Trump’s exit from the Paris Climate Accord. Trump indicates that he will not favor a policy that is supportive of electric vehicles, including plans to kill the current tax credit for EV purchases.
Breaking: According to CNN Elon Musk was told to stop outshining Trump. Trump is the King, not Elon.
Trump is more popular than Elon and Trump wants to keep it that way. There are huge doubts Musk can cut $2 trillion. Also, no way to buy MSNBC from Comcast. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/gGXBkVouOr— Chris Borkowski (@cborkowski) November 24, 2024
Musk may realize, at some point, that he runs several different companies, and those companies might need his attention. And Musk is very likely to eventually discover that DOGE is not going to have the power to override Congress, fire people at will, or otherwise act in a way that the structure of the government does not allow. More likely, DOGE will share ideas and make recommendations, but run into resistance for the same reasons that most past efforts to radically reduce government spending have.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
The New York Times reported this week that Mick Mulvaney, a former Trump White House chief of staff, has told clients that when it comes to Musk’s plans to sharply cut government spending, Musk will find that “going to Mars is easier.”
And there are already reports that some in Trump’s orbit are annoyed with Musk continuing to hang around Mar-a-Lago, where he has practically lived since Trump’s election.
That Times piece referenced another lesson that Musk is perhaps beginning to learn: “in Trumpworld… Don’t outshine the boss. At least if you want to stay awhile.”
Featured image via screengrab
