4 days ago
Trump and 'first buddy' Elon Musk's bromance ends with wild 53-minute Oval Office farewell and a golden gift
Donald Trump 's 'bromance' with Elon Musk entered a new chapter with a peculiar presser where the world's richest man praised Trump's decorating while sporting a black eye – and Trump gave him a gold key without admitting he was going away.
'Elon is really not leaving. He's going to be back and forth, I think. I have a feeling. It's his baby, and I think he's going to be doing a lot of things,' Trump said.
It was one of several times neither man quite wanted to pronounce that Musk was finally leaving – even though Musk had written publicly about the end of his 130-day term as a 'Special Government Employee' with the ear of the world's most powerful man.
'Can you imagine they called him an employee?' Trump mused about his 'first buddy's' vague bureaucratic status that allowed him to avoid massive disclosure filings.
The president spoke wistfully at times about the South Africa-born billionaire, who accompanied him on the campaign trail and pumped money into his election only to become a fixture at Mar-a-Lago while riding herd over his controversial Department of Governmental Efficiency.
'We'll remember you as we announce billions of dollars of extra waste, fraud and abuse,' Trump said.
At one point Trump presented Musk with a golden key.
'And they gave him a little special something we have here, a very special – that I give to very special people. I have given it to some, but it goes to very special people, and I thought I'd give it to Elon as a presentation from our country. Thank you, Elon. Take care of yourself,' Trump said.
'This is not the end of DOGE, it's really the beginning,' said Musk, sounding like a retiring exec – although he is returning to helm his Tesla and SpaceX companies.
He reached for a religion metaphor to hail his team of young engineers, at an event where Trump repeatedly referred to the 'slings and arrows' and other abuse Musk endured.
'I liken it to a sort of Buddhism. It's like a way of life,' Musk said.
It wasn't the only gold blazing inside the Oval Friday. Musk began his own remarks bizarrely praising the president's decorating skills.
'By the way, isn't this incredible – this incredible? I mean, it's stunning. I think the way that Oval Office – the President has just completely redone the Oval Office. It's beautiful. I love the gold on the ceiling,' said the spending slasher who drew pushback after taking a dig at Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' said.
'It's been there a long time,' Trump chimed in. 'There was plaster. Nobody ever really saw it. They didn't know the eagle was up there. We highlighted it's essentially, it's a landmark, a great landmark. It's 24 carat gold, and everybody loved it. Now they all see it when they come in. And it's been good,' he said of the gilded design.
When it came for questions, Musk stood by his pledge to elimiate $1 trillion – although DOGE only currently lists $175 billion in cancelled contracts on its web site after scrubbing multiple claims about nixed spending.
'We do expect, over time, to achieve a trillion,' Musk said.
Trump also embraced the expanded time frame – but said he'd keep Musk in his thoughts.
'Many of the things that we're working on right now, we're going to have to remember Elon as we find them, but the numbers could double and triple, because many, many things – we don't want to go out with them until we're for sure, but we've, we've found things that are unbelievably stupid and unbelievably bad,' Trump said.
Standing inside the room for all of it was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose angry clash with Musk precipitated his departure. Also there was Katie Miller, the wife of top Trump aide Stephen Miller who is following Musk back to the private sector.
Trump said cuts would be 'surgical', although Musk himself brandished a chain saw during his memorable sunglasses-wearing CPAC appearance.
Unspoken through most of the event was a bombshell New York Times report claiming Musk regularly used drugs on the 2024 campaign trail.
'The New York Times? Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russia-gate? Is it the same organization? I think it is,' said Musk – shielding himself by bringing up one of Trump's favorite obsessions.
As he did in his State of the Union, Trump ran through a list of programs Musk's DOGE team identified as wasteful, bringing back a mention of transgender mice (it was actually an NIH study of sex differences in the brain).
'$Forty-five million for Diversity Equity and Inclusion scholarships in Burma. In Burma, does anyone know about Burma?' Trump asked.
There was little talk about the msasive disruption DOGE brought to government agencies, essentially dismantling U.S. international aid and slashing staff at agencies from the National Institutes of Health to the National Science Foundation and even the National Nuclear Security Administration (cuts that got quickly reversed).
Was it worth it? 'We became essentially the DOGE boogeyman, where any cut anywhere would be ascribed to DOGE,' Musk replied.
It wasn't until 42 minutes into the event that a reporter got the chance to ask the burning question about what was wrong with Musk's face. The world's richest man had already made reference to his 'shiner,' which was visible under his black ball cap as he wore a 'Dogefather' t-shirt and jacket.
'I was just horsting around with Little X, and I said, "Go ahead, punch me in the face. And he did,' Musk explained.
'That was X that did that?' Trump wanted to know. But the black eye sported by the man expecting to remain a 'friend and advisor' hadn't caught his attention, Trump claimed.
