DISCLAIMER: This article was first published in February 2025
Many opponents of the Trump presidency, especially Elon Musk’s outsized role, have been expecting, or at least hoping, an eventual falling out between Trump and Musk. The two men have not only clashed before, but both have extensive histories of breaking with longtime rivals, and neither is known for being incredibly comfortable with being #2 in any organization.
Early on Friday, Time magazine released a cover showing Musk behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office, along with an article titled “Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington.”
TIME’s new cover: Inside Elon Musk’s war on Washington https://t.co/95Qictx4zP pic.twitter.com/QZ73CZqtnM
— TIME (@TIME) February 7, 2025
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It’s the type of thing that one might expect to upset Trump, but this time, uncharacteristically, he hasn’t quite taken the bait.
During a press availability on Friday, a few hours after the cover appeared, a reporter asked Trump what he thought about it.
“Mr. President, do you have a reaction to the new Time Magazine cover that has Elon Musk sitting behind your Resolute desk?”
“No,” Trump answered.
Pres. Trump reacted to the new Time Magazine cover depicting Elon Musk sitting behind the Resolute desk.
“Elon is doing a great job,” Pres. Trump added. https://t.co/eifTizKZ5d pic.twitter.com/CXvTyQI8GR
— ABC News (@ABC) February 7, 2025
“Is Time Magazine still in business?” Trump asked sarcastically. “I didn’t even know that… Elon is doing a great job. He’s finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste. You see it with the USAID, but you’re going to see it even more so with other agencies and parts of government,” Trump said, per The Hill.
The availability occurred Friday while Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House.
Less happy with what Musk is doing is Jonathan Chait of The Atlantic, who published a piece Friday about how Musk’s DOGE has “enshrined Elon Musk’s delusional conspiracy theories into official White House policy.”
I don’t have a lot of confidence in Elon’s process; let me put it that way: https://t.co/b9RQXBjcgq pic.twitter.com/pVBMsXZlfY
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) February 7, 2025
“The Trump administration’s attempt to eliminate USAID is many things: an unfolding humanitarian nightmare, a rollback of American soft power, the thin end of a wedge meant to reorder the Constitution,” Chait writes. “But upon closer examination, it is also an outbreak of delusional paranoia that has spread from Elon Musk throughout the Republican Party’s rank and file.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
