LOS ANGELES.–So what happened to the media narrative in the fake news that 53-year-old tech mega-billionaire Elon Musk was running the White House? Musk, like Zelensky on Feb. 28, was escorted out of the White House, no longer in his privileged position given to him by Trump. Trump never really anticipated problems from Musk as long he was kept at an arm’s length on the campaign trail, only became way to personal when Trump let him run the Government Efficiency Office, looking for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in the federal government. Once Musk started slashing Democrat pet programs, like NSAID, giving grants to poor countries around the planet, did Musk become Public Enemy No. 1, a open target for Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who launched their national oligarchs tour.
Bernie and AOC got a lot of mileage from Musk, claiming he bought his way into controlling the White House and government with Trump only a functionary in Musk’s vast scheme to control the U.S. government. So, what are Bernie and AOC now that Trump threatens to pull all of Musk’s funding for his high profile opposition to the “big beautiful bill,” claiming that it just leads to more government profligate spending. Bernie and AOC could care less about budget deficits or the national debt, only want to see their pet projects funded. Musk said on his X platform that Trump wouldn’t have won the presidency without his support in 2024. Most experts think Musk probably helped a little but certainly had no real effect on the outcome of the 2024 election. Trump trounced former Vice President Kamala Harris because she ran a one dimension campaign and it backfired.
Watching Musk and Trump feud publicly was a predicable consequence of Musk overstepping his boundaries, getting to drunk with his contributions without realizing he would have no stature in the government without Trump. Trump and a number of other experts claim that Musk was disenchanted with Trump’s new economic bill because it cuts out billions of dollars in government subsidies for EV vehicles. Musk hurt his brand by turning into Mr. Evil in the public’s eye, slashing spending on programs for the poor when he showed no empathy at all for his recommended cuts. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Many of Musk’s contracts are essential to the U.S. manned space program.
Trump won’t like move to cut Musk’s contracts because the government gets much back from his Tesla Motors, SpaceX and Starlink busineses, where Musk uses his space technology to supply the International Space Station, ferry astronauts to-and-fro, and set up Internet communications around the planet including Ukraine. Feuding with Trump publicly hammered Tesla stock today dropping a whopping 14% or $47.30 to $284.70 losing about $150 billion in market cap. While the stock will no doubt bounce back, does Musk really want the public feud with Trump when share prices are so volatile? Trump found out over time that Musk has a number of personality quirks, some say Asperger’s or adult autism with rumors over his ketamine and psychedelic drug use. So, it was just a matter of time before the White House could no longer handle Musk’s eccentricities.
Calling Tump’s “big beautiful bill” a “disgusting abomination” didn’t go over well with Trump, knowing he has enough problems with GOP conservatives fearful of adding to budget deficits and national debt. “I’m very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,” Trump said referring the the press. “All of a sudden, he had a problem, and he only developed the problems when he found out the we’re going to have cut EV mandates,” Trump said. Musk’s response on X was predictably flippant, “Whatever. “Call your Senator. Call your Congressman. Bankrupting America is NOT OK! KILL THE BILL,” Musk tweeted on X. Many Democrats agree with Musk for different reasons. They see slashing Medicaid Spending as destroying the job-creating health care sector that relies on government spending.
Musk has many gripes with Trump including withdrawing Jared Issacman from consideration as NASA director. Whatever Musk’s relationship with Issacman isn’t known. Whether Musk is really upset about eliminating government EV subsidies is anyone’s guess. Most likely he felt like he received preferential treatment from Trump but now runs into friction with Trump’s economic bill. Trump tolerated Musk as long as he wasn’t dominating the headlines, especially with the fake news insisting Musk was running the White House. Everyone knew it was another fake Democrat narrative but it undermined Musk’s relationship with Trump. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore. I was surprised,” Trump said, not sure things would bounce back. Musk has businesses to run and he’s better off staying clear of all the White House drama.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
