2 days ago
How Musk's Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly Happened in Front of Our Eyes
For all the time he spent in the Oval Office, the richest man in the world is foreign born, and one thing he can never do is sit at the Resolute Desk as the elected most powerful man in the world.
But Elon Musk was able to buy his way into becoming the 'First Buddy' and for a time he was able to bond his ultimate wealth with President Donald Trump's ultimate power.
Trump allowed Musk to take a chainsaw to federal agencies with the promise he would cut trillions in federal spending. Trump believed Musk could do it and hereby make room for the big tax cuts that are the primary goal of the president's 'Big, Beautiful Bill.' Trump promises the BBB and a host of tariffs will lead to a 'golden age' protected by a 'Golden Dome' run from an Oval Office newly adorned with gold leaf.
In this bonding of money and power, Musk declared his affection for Trump as a teenager might, via social media. In his instance, on a platform he bought for $44 billion in 2022, changing the name from Twitter to X.
'I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man,' Musk posted in February.
Musk often brought along the toddler son he also named X to the Oval Office. The boy picked his nose during one visit and wiped the result on the Resolute Desk.
The famously germaphobic Trump was seemingly so enthralled with Musk's money and online sway that he said nothing and simply had the desk refinished.
But however successful Musk had been as a businessman, he fell far short with his Department of Government Efficiency, which the whole country came to know as DOGE., His young minions created maximum chaos while achieving a small fraction of the promised savings, often ignoring the law as they did it and then falsely reporting the results. Decent and devoted civil servants who had devoted their working lives to serving the public were dismissed as useless bureaucrats by DOGE goons with nicknames like 'Big Balls.'
As Musk's association with such reckless cruelty impacted Tesla's business, Trump sought to boost it by displaying a Cyber Truck and a red Model S Tesla outside the White House. Trump said he was buying the Model S because he liked the color.
The car stood in the White House parking lot as Tesla investors clamored for Musk to return to his business. DOGE continued to fall short on the promised savings. And that made it more difficult for Trump to justify the cost of the BBB.
If Trump and Musk had discussions about his departure, they were private. Trump held a sendoff ceremony in the Oval Office last Friday. Musk had a black eye that he explained away by saying his young son had hit him. He looked tense, but it seemed that might have been the result of a news report about his suspected drug use
At one point, Musk looked around the freshly gilded office he would never be able to occupy despite his billions of dollars and millions of followers on X.
'The Oval Office finally has the majesty that it deserves, thanks to the president,' he said.
Trump presented Musk with a golden key to the White House, where he can never reside. Both men said nice things about each other.
'One of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced,' Trump said. 'Elon's service to America has been without comparison in modern history.'
Musk pledged, 'The DOGE teams will only get stronger over time.'
But as a full blown narcissist, Musk could not just let it end so far short of success. He had to show his power by smashing something.
On Tuesday, Musk took the first step toward what would become a break-up in front of millions. Musk had said nothing negative about the BBB at the White House farewell and there had been no significant changes to it since them. But he now denounced it on X as 'a disgusting abomination.'
'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore,' he wrote, now calling the BBB 'this massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill.'
'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' he added 'You know it.'
He subsequently vowed to 'fire' any legislators who supported it.
Remarkably, the equally narcissistic Trump did not immediately respond, and it seemed he may have remained under the spell of Musk's money and online clout. But on Thursday, during a televised Oval Office meeting with new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump allowed that he was 'very disappointed in Elon.'
'Elon's upset because we took the [electric vehicle] mandate and–you know, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles,' Trump then said.'He only developed a problem when he found out I would cut the EV mandate,'
Musk must have been watching.
'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' Musk wrote on X. 'Such ingratitude.'
The two major world figures kept posting when they could have just gotten on the phone. They instead played it out so it was read live by millions who comprised an intended audience.
'Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,' Musk wrote. 'Have a nice day, DJT!'
What was most distressing about this deliberately public dispute between the world's richest man and its most powerful was that neither seemed more emotionally mature than your basic junior high student.
However it goes from there, Trump will be out of power on January 20, 2029. Musk may or may not still be the world's richest man; Tesla stock fell by 13 percent during Thursday's exchange. But however much money he wins or loses, he will never have for even a minute the power an elected president has for four years.
He may be able to briefly buy a president, but he cannot become one.
