Is the Bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk over? Some are saying so but I’m not convinced. Trump may not have much intellect but he’s been blessed with media savvy. Sure, he’s had missteps at times but for over three decades he’s marketed himself and his image/brand to keep his lavish lifestyle afloat. Not to mention attain the Presidency. Trump damn well knows how toxic Musk has become. So the word from Trump world both in Florida and DC is ‘Musk is OUT.’
That’s what this article in The Independent lays out for us and they make a decent case. After reading it I realized that Musk news has been pretty much about Tesla which as you know has lost bigly due to Musk’s antics with Trump and of course DOGE. We don’t hear so much about DOGE itself lately either, but Elon created a team of young zealots to destroy the various systems that have made government work. As far as I know, they are still there on the job. So keep that in mind as I continue.
As the linked article says a campaign of sorts is underway to say Musk is finished. Banned from MAGA world. That Trump is done with him, etc. The Independent notes how in February and March Trump was posting almost every day about Musk (and DOGE) and Musk was doing the same on his own, larger platform the same with Trump. And Musk was seemingly everywhere Trump was if you recall. However since the beginning of April Trump hasn’t made any Truth Social posts about Musk. Also, Musk’s posts about Trump seemed to go way down in frequency.
Let’s face it, BOTH of them were facing a LOT of criticism (even from Republicans) to the point of serious public backlash. Tesla’s sales cratered, and Trump’s polling numbers declined by a margin he couldn’t ignore. These two guys have egos as massive as can be found on planet earth. But each was suffering due to the oh so public nature of their ‘Bromance’ and let’s face it. Musk might have envisioned doing all the actual Presidential work (to his own ends mind you) but Trump actually IS the President. It had to grate on Trump that so many were saying Musk was the one actually in control! It was inevitable that Trump would get tired of it and start distancing himself from Elon. At least publicly. Hence the comments coming out of Trump World such as:
“He’s finished, done, gone. He polls terribly. People hate him,” an anonymous GOP operative told Politico. “He’d go to Wisconsin thinking he can buy people’s votes, wear the cheese hat, act like a 9-year-old. … It doesn’t work. It’s offensive to people.”
The official White House account and some of Trump’s senior advisers have also stopped mentioning Musk on social media, Politico notes.
I also found it interesting that the linked article mentions Trump no longer is using Musk in fundraising pitches. Hmmm. The question is whether these two asshats truly are on the outs, or entered into an agreement for Musk to stay in the background while his DOGE minions continue their destructive work. Musk as I said has a HUGE ego. Playing Silent Partner isn’t the kind of thing one would think he can do. However, Tesla as I said is in trouble. Prior to his teaming up with Trump Tesla owners had a devotion to the brand like Saturn has with its customers. THAT is gone. People all over the world are dumping their Teslas and also its stock. Tesla is what propelled Musk to such a massive fortune. That money is what allowed him to turn Space X into what it is.
However the value of Tesla is down. Add in that other EV automakers have steadily been catching up and it’s no wonder Tesla’s Board of Directors is unhappy with Musk. Denials have been issued but there was rumbling about forcing Musk out! I don’t think that will happen but he’s running a the Tesla version of a cat’s “9 lives.” Also, he may have gotten what he really wanted already which was to position Space X to a dangerous level of control of our military operations. Beyond regular NASA stuff. He’s gotten NASA to put the screws to Bezos’ space work. And now he’s working to take over operation of our Air Traffic Control system! Could it be that DOGE, while it was intended to and has caused incalculable damage actually just a smokescreen?
Convincing Trump to let him loose via DOGE was an easy sell. Trump knew how well it would go over with rich and powerful conservatives. And even MAGAs would love it, at least for a while. Reality is starting to set in, but in the meantime there’s no telling how many new hooks Musk has gotten into the government. Trump, even if he realized it won’t care because Musk has hurt people Trump WANTS to hurt. The bottom line is that it’s a been hugely mutually beneficial relationship. It still can be, but they should be careful about how they keep working together.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to, down the road learn that for all this talk about Trumpty being “done”, “finished” etc. all they did was figure out a way to ‘keep on keeping on’ on the down-low.
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Musk hasn’t left Trump. He just went with Trump on his Middle East trip. He met with the Saudi ‘s and allegedly made his own deals with them. The press has just been pretty quiet about it. They’re both still wheeling and dealing for their own personal benefit!! Certainly not for us poor schmucks.