Elon Musk Is Pissing Off Everyone on Trump’s Team
Elon Musk is starting to seriously annoy some in Donald Trump’s inner circle.Musk has been hanging around Mar-a-Lago ever since his million-dollar gamble to help Trump win the presidential election paid off last week. The billionaire technocrat seems to have no intention of taking a back seat in Trump’s presidency, and it’s starting to piss off those in the president’s ranks, according to two people familiar with the Trump team’s transition who spoke with NBC News earlier this week. “He’s behaving as if he’s a co-president and making sure everyone knows it,” one of the two people told NBC.“And he’s sure taking lots of credit for the president’s victory. Bragging about America PAC and X to anyone who will listen. He’s trying to make President Trump feel indebted to him. And the president is indebted to no one,” they added. The second person said that Musk had been overstepping his bounds, and that Musk has an “opinion on and about everything.”“He wants to be seen as having say in everything (even if he doesn’t),” the source told NBC.Musk has been pretty busy since hitching his space-age wagon to the MAGA movement. Musk met with Iran’s U.N. ambassador on Monday, reportedly hoping to broker some kind of peace negotiation on behalf of the United States. Last week, Musk hopped on Trump’s calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Co-presidents” doesn’t sound too far off.The second person suggested that Musk was hurting his chances of sticking around by not keeping a low profile, as the former president hates sharing the spotlight. Earlier this week, Trump cracked a joke at Musk’s expense during a meeting with Republican lawmakers, a reminder to everyone that Musk serves at his leisure, not the other way around. The second person also speculated that Musk might not be as committed to Trump’s agenda as he presents.This week, Trump tapped Musk to head the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental body that will push substantial cuts in regulations, spending, and personnel. While Trump has suggested that Musk’s role will be merely advisory, the high-level appointment has signaled that Trump’s White House is open for business to anyone who helps him politically and financially—after all, Musk transformed an essential information environment into a propaganda machine, with the sole purpose of having Trump reelected.
Elon Musk is starting to seriously annoy some in Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Musk has been hanging around Mar-a-Lago ever since his million-dollar gamble to help Trump win the presidential election paid off last week. The billionaire technocrat seems to have no intention of taking a back seat in Trump’s presidency, and it’s starting to piss off those in the president’s ranks, according to two people familiar with the Trump team’s transition who spoke with NBC News earlier this week.
“He’s behaving as if he’s a co-president and making sure everyone knows it,” one of the two people told NBC.
“And he’s sure taking lots of credit for the president’s victory. Bragging about America PAC and X to anyone who will listen. He’s trying to make President Trump feel indebted to him. And the president is indebted to no one,” they added.
The second person said that Musk had been overstepping his bounds, and that Musk has an “opinion on and about everything.”
“He wants to be seen as having say in everything (even if he doesn’t),” the source told NBC.
Musk has been pretty busy since hitching his space-age wagon to the MAGA movement. Musk met with Iran’s U.N. ambassador on Monday, reportedly hoping to broker some kind of peace negotiation on behalf of the United States. Last week, Musk hopped on Trump’s calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Co-presidents” doesn’t sound too far off.
The second person suggested that Musk was hurting his chances of sticking around by not keeping a low profile, as the former president hates sharing the spotlight. Earlier this week, Trump cracked a joke at Musk’s expense during a meeting with Republican lawmakers, a reminder to everyone that Musk serves at his leisure, not the other way around.
The second person also speculated that Musk might not be as committed to Trump’s agenda as he presents.
This week, Trump tapped Musk to head the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental body that will push substantial cuts in regulations, spending, and personnel. While Trump has suggested that Musk’s role will be merely advisory, the high-level appointment has signaled that Trump’s White House is open for business to anyone who helps him politically and financially—after all, Musk transformed an essential information environment into a propaganda machine, with the sole purpose of having Trump reelected.
