Trump and Musk break-up was only a matter of time, say White House insiders

Telegraph

2 days ago

Elon Musk's explosive rift with the White House stems in part from longstanding tensions about his libertarian policies and his ties to Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump's rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, according to sources close to the president.
Interviews with a string of insiders reveal months of concern at Mr Musk's grandstanding behaviour and philosophical differences with people at the heart of the Trump administration.
Strains between the world's richest man and the world's most powerful man boiled over in the most public of ways during the past 24 hours.
Mr Trump accused his former confidant of suffering from 'Trump derangement syndrome' prompting Mr Musk to hit back with an extraordinary claim that the president's name was in the so-called 'Epstein files' of people linked to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
A Trump ally, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no one had been surprised by what he called Mr Musk's 'petulance'.
'It's less personal and it's more ideological,' he said. 'Someone in Musk world will tell you the point of winning power is to return government to the founders' vision of something small but limited.
'Most realists will tell you that the point of being in government is to wield power to shape the future.'
The result, he said, was that Mr Musk's libertarian instincts put him out of step with Mr Trump's Maga movement, which wants to use the White House, Congress and courts to overhaul society.
The tech billionaire stepped down from his role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency last week.
He was given a glittering Oval Office send-off when he was presented with a golden key and warm words.
But he turned on his former employer on Tuesday, tearing into Mr Trump's signature spending bill, calling it a 'disgusting abomination'.
White House allies began a quiet briefing campaign. They told reporters that Mr Musk had wanted to stay on in the administration beyond his 130-day limit as a 'special government employee' and was irritated when his request was rejected.
There were other failings. Insiders said he had over-promised – initially claiming he could find $2 trillion of cuts – and under-delivered, a critical mistake in the image-obsessed world of the Trump administration.
And White House officials became increasingly irritated at the way he would impose himself on Oval Office and cabinet meetings.
'I generally tried to stay out of his way because it was obviously going to blow up eventually,' said one.
Aides to Mr Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
But the break with Mr Trump exploded into full display in the Oval Office on Thursday, when Mr Trump made their break official.
'Elon and I had a great relationship,' Mr Trump told reporters. 'I don't know if we will anymore.'
The divide illustrates some of the fault lines in the coalition that delivered an extraordinary political comeback for Mr Trump last year, marrying small government conservatives with Maga populists who want to use all the levers of government to destroy their opposition.
The battleground is Mr Trump's bill and its impact on the national debt.
When Mr Musk went on a six-hour X rampage on Tuesday night, he warned repeatedly that the bill will only increase the gap between tax revenues and spending, increasing the debt.
Officials countered, by portraying Mr Musk as acting out of spite rather than political principle. They quietly briefed that Mr Musk had 'disappointed' and was angered that Tesla would lose tax breaks for electric vehicles in the bill.
'Susie Wiles tired of Musk'
Raheem Kassam, who is close to arch-Musk enemy Steve Bannon, former strategist to Mr Trump, said it was notable that many of the stories about Mr Musk were first reported by Marc Caputo, an Axios reporter and a veteran of Florida politics.
'You only have Caputo out there if one person in particular has okayed it,' he said, 'and that one person is Susie Wiles'.
Reports have circulated for weeks that Ms Wiles, the White House chief of staff who built her reputation in Florida, had tired of Mr Musk's unpredictable nature and unwillingness to follow chains of command.
In particular, aides and Mr Trump were reportedly taken by surprise when the New York Times scooped that Mr Musk was to be briefed at the Pentagon on its plans for any war with China.
Beneath it all, said another insider, was a different clash that put Mr Musk and Ms Wiles on different sides.
Mr Musk had helped Mr DeSantis launch his 2024 presidential run on Twitter Spaces. And once the Florida governor had dropped out of the Republican presidential primary, after falling too far behind Mr Trump, he staffed up his own political operation with refugees from the DeSantis campaign.
Generra Peck, Mr DeSantis's campaign manager, runs his America Political Action Committee, which distributed hundreds of millions of dollars during last year's elections.
In contrast, Ms Wiles was credited with saving Mr DeSantis's run for governor in 2018 before falling out with him.
'Susie fell out of love with DeSantis very harshly, and Elon never did,' said a source close to the White House.
A White House official disputed there was bad blood between the two.
'Elon and Susie ultimately had a friendly and collaborative relationship. They had standing meetings multiple times per week,' said the official.
Mr DeSantis has been quick to come to Mr Musk's defence.
'Doge and Elon were on a collision course with the swamp … and so far, the swamp has won,' he said as Mr Musk's departure was confirmed, referring to the right's favourite nickname for the Washington political establishment.
He might not have wanted to say it, but it is also a moment of celebration for the Bannonite wing of the Maga movement, who were suspicious of Mr Musk from the start.