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Washington Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
The MAGA faithful celebrate the end of the Trump-Musk bromance
'Boooooooooooo CYBERTRUCK!' Raheem Kassam stood on a sidewalk in the Capitol Hill stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, pulling a Hestia cigarette from a pack and preparing to light it. He had spotted the truck, a heap of matte silver and sharp angles, parked on the street nearby. It was the uninvited guest to an unofficial party celebrating what they view as the end of Elon Musk's influence in President Donald Trump's Washington. The festive mood Thursday night came after an hours-long public feud between Musk and Trump that captivated Washington and appeared to mark the final dissolution of the two men's bromance. Musk spent tens of millions to help elect Trump last year before heading up a controversial cost-cutting effort over the last five months known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. But Musk turned on Trump this week over the president's massive deficit-busting tax and spending plan. 'We're popping bottles tonight,' said Kassam, who had just sat down his tin of caviar and pearl spoon before stepping outside for a smoke break. So goes the sentiment at Butterworth's, the French-inspired bistro on Capitol Hill that has become something of a MAGA clubhouse in Trump's second term. Kassam is one of the investors. And 'MAGA' — Make America Great Again — is the operative adjective here. Over plates of lamb tartare and generous pours of côtes du rhône — perhaps the only liberal thing here — diners said their loyalties would be to Trump in the high-profile breakup. 'This is a lesson the MAGA right needed to learn right now,' he continued. The establishment Republican Party had already gone through something similar, Kassam said, when the tea party 'got bought out by the Kochs,' referring to two wealthy brothers who funded traditionalist conservative causes. 'I was very worried for a time that MAGA would be bought out by the oligarchs, too,' he said. 'And it's just so satisfying to see that that is now no longer the case.' All evening, acerbic tones of a Musk-inspired diss track could be heard across the bar. 'What people need to remember is that, you know, this is President Trump's movement,' said CJ Pearson, a Gen Z MAGA influencer. 'The least surprising thing I've ever seen,' said Matthew Boyle, the Washington bureau chief of the conservative news outlet Breitbart. 'We were all ready for this from the beginning.' Butterworth's is a haunt of Stephen K. Bannon, the War Room podcast host and former Trump adviser, and his political sympathizers. Bannon never cared for Musk, who embodied the tech right and ultrawealthy interests; the two routinely clashed over the direction of Trump's second term, with Bannon pushing a more populist, nationalist agenda. The attacks often veered into name-calling: Musk called Bannon 'a great talker, but not a great doer'; Bannon called Musk a 'truly evil person' and a 'parasitic illegal immigrant.' Bannon wasn't at Butterworth's on Thursday — he had spent much of the evening on the phone with reporters and allies, reveling in the moment. Phoning in to The Washington Post as a reporter was perched at the bar, Bannon said federal officials should investigate whether Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa, had legally entered the country and should deport him if he hadn't followed all proper procedures. The Post reported last year that Musk worked illegally in the United States as he launched his entrepreneurial career after ditching a graduate studies program in California. And Bannon said Trump should sign an executive order to keep Musk from interfering with government work that his companies have contracts on. Federal officials should take over Musk's businesses, at least temporarily, Bannon said. 'The government should seize control of SpaceX tonight through the Defense Production Act,' Bannon said. He was referring to Musk's declaration Thursday that he would decommission the spacecraft tasked with delivering supplies to the International Space Station — a threat he later retracted. And he said the government should seize Musk's Starlink satellite company while they're at it. 'He's an unstable individual who has a history of massive drug use,' Bannon said, referring to a recent New York Times report. 'He should not be in charge of essential national security programs.' What about that tantalizing tidbit Musk dropped on X — that Trump is 'in the Epstein files?' The claim referred to convicted and deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Musk threw it like a match on his way out the door. 'He is a national security threat,' Bannon said of Musk's claim against Trump, and his declared support Thursday for impeaching the president to replace him with Vice President JD Vance. This evening at Butterworth's, technically, wasn't supposed to be about Musk. It was supposed to be about a plaque — specifically, one about the size of a hot dog bun, mounted near a floral pattern sofa by Butterworth's entrance. 'THE AMBASSADOR'S SOFA,' it shouted in bronze. The diplomat in question was British ambassador Peter Mandelson, who had fond notions of being served Lobster Thermidor 'sprawled out on this sofa here.' That's what he would prefer to talk about. But he indulged The Post's queries about Trump and Musk, too. 'Honestly, I genuinely don't know what Elon has said,' Mandelson said, when confronted about Musk's recent social media posts about Trump. 'But I think the office of the president should be respected at all times.' If Butterworth's is the safe space for the Trump faithful, the X social media site that he owns — formerly known as Twitter — is Musk's. Pearson, the influencer, has seen MAGA influencers taking Musk's side. 'It's completely economically motivated by some of these people who are, honestly, grifters,' Pearson said. 'These are folks who depend on Elon bucks to pay their rent, and now they're betraying their values and their principles simply because they need to make ends meet.' Bart Hutchins, Butterworth's chef and resident bon vivant, stood behind the host counter, turning to tend to a customer waiting to check in for his reservation. Hutchins, like Musk, has gone through more liberal and conservative phases — and Hutchins has liked Musk through none of them. 'Elon Musk is an insufferable nerd, and I hope this marks the end of his engagement with public life,' Hutchins said. 'He's an aesthetic nightmare,' he added. 'Like, he doesn't have anything interesting to say.' Back on the sidewalk, Kassam was twirling a cigarette between his fingertips. He was thinking aloud about Musk's fights with conservative leaders on the international stage, such as Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain's Reform Party whom Musk had harshly criticized. (Kassam, an associate of Farage, said Musk 'went crawling back to him, by the way, and apologized.') There was also Peter Navarro, Trump's longtime trade adviser and a top champion of aggressive tariffs who, like Bannon, served prison time after being found in contempt of Congress in connection with investigations of Trump. After the president announced his 'Liberation Day' tariff plan, Musk posted on X that Navarro was 'truly a moron.' 'Dr. Peter Navarro went to jail for the movement and for the president,' Kassam said, while admitting he is 'not even a huge fan of him personally.' 'But he's a made man. You don't get to pick fights with Dr. Peter Navarro,' Kassam continued. Kassam paused before lighting his cigarette. 'What's also really funny, what Elon doesn't realize, is all of his DOGE people leak all around town,' Kassam said. 'They talk to everyone — they talk to reporters, they talk to MAGA people, they talk to Bannon world people, they talk to everyone, because they're not political people. 'They don't know how to work in this town. And so as I stare at his Cybertruck,' Kassam continued, looking at the vehicle parked on the street a few doors down, 'his greenness has finally come back to bite him. … And good riddance.'
Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Times
Lord Mandelson: Starmer and Trump are ‘masters of the same drivers'
Lord Mandelson, the British ambassador to the US, was fêted by Washington's Maga elite on Thursday night as a plaque in his honour was unveiled at Butterworth's, a favourite restaurant for members of the Trump administration. As guests sipped Hambledon English sparkling wine, Mandelson satisfied cries for a speech. 'I don't know what to say,' he said. 'I do feel that I have finally made it from tribal politician to real diplomat now that I have unveiled the first plaque in my new diplomatic career.' Discussing the tribute from the restaurant that is a hotspot these days for the young Maga faithful, Mandelson said he felt 'really chuffed by the ambassador's sofa'. • Peter Mandelson: how prince of darkness became the Trump whisperer The plaque rests above the French-style sofa upon which Mandelson reclined when he met with Raheem Kassam, one of the restaurant's co-owners who is a former adviser to Nigel Farage, soon after arriving in Washington this year. 'When I came here, I wandered off the streets hungry not knowing what it was. I thought I might get a nice lobster thermidor if I was lucky. I sprawled out on this sofa and we had a wonderful conversation for a long time,' he said. Mandelson has spent his first few months in the role fostering closer relations with the Trump administration and allies in the wider Maga movement. He has made a point of inviting its younger subscribers to embassy events, including one recently held for 'new media'. Speaking about Kassam, who is a close ally of the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Mandelson said: 'Although we don't have identical politics, we are familiar with masters of the same drivers that brought our respective figures to power — President Trump in your case and Keir Starmer in mine.' He said that both leaders had delivered similar mandates from 'angry people who felt they were being unheard by mainstream politics' who were 'angry about the cost of living, angry about uncontrolled immigration and angry about uncontrolled woke culture spreading across institutions'. 'I feel that over centuries now, British diplomats here in United States have been creating coalitions that support the special relationship,' he said. 'I have my own classic New Labour experience of fishing for votes across the political spectrum and forging unlikely coalitions, so good luck to you. 'I just think what you have created here at Butterworth's is fairly remarkable. You've brought the best of British gastro pub food and planted it down here on Capitol Hill. I feel you've brought the special relationship up to a new higher level.' Kassam told Mandelson he was delighted by his attendance as it was important to show 'Brits back home that we can actually work together in His Majesty's interest'. Pressed on his thoughts about the Musk and Trump bust-up on Thursday, Mandelson said he wasn't across it, owing to not being on social media. He did say, however, that the office of president ought to be respected. Thankfully for the ambassador, this unveiling went smoother than the last time he was asked to unveil a plaque. In his early days as a member of parliament for Hartlepool, County Durham, Mandelson opened a skills centre in his constituency and with 'great flourish and great aplomb I ripped back the curtain and there was no plaque'. He recounted: 'I looked at it slightly bemused and they said, 'It is on its way it just hasn't been done yet' as if that was that.'
