Why Elon Musk and Trump Will not Break Up Any Time Quickly

Elon Musk is presently dismantling the U.S. federal authorities in an oligarchic coup, aided by President Donald Trump, an ongoing risk to the protection and safety of the US. The 2 billionaires declare to be battling “fraud” and “waste,” when it’s abundantly clear they’re simply eliminating federal companies and packages they don’t like—companies and packages licensed by Congress that may solely be legally abolished by Congress.

However do you keep in mind a number of weeks in the past, or perhaps a few months in the past, when folks have been predicting Musk and Trump would have some sort of alliance-ending blowout? Nearly everybody agreed that it was only a matter of time earlier than Trump would tire of Musk and the 2 would half methods in spectacularly brutal style. Many have been predicting this even earlier than the election in November, as limitless reviews have been leaked about how Musk has been getting too huge for his britches. The headlines all appeared to be some model of Musk “annoying” Trump. However it merely hasn’t occurred but.

In actual fact, Fox Information posted a clip on Friday of Musk and Trump sitting down collectively, a preview of an interview with Sean Hannity that gained’t be airing till Tuesday. Trump insisted that it’s simply the media making an attempt to drive the 2 males aside and it gained’t work.

“Elon known as me, he mentioned, , they’re making an attempt to drive us aside. I mentioned, completely,” Trump says within the clip. “You already know, they mentioned, we now have breaking information, Donald Trump has ceded management of the presidency to Elon Musk… President Musk might be attending a cupboard assembly tonight at 8 o’clock. And I say, it’s simply so apparent. They’re so dangerous at it.”

There’s a protracted historical past of Trump eviscerating former allies, which made a really dramatic break up appear inevitable. No one enters Trump’s orbit and upstages him or pursues their very own agenda, a minimum of not with out getting pushed apart and denigrated to no finish. And but, Musk has stolen the highlight many times with out consequence. The newest instance was when Musk fielded questions on DOGE within the Oval Workplace final week whereas a hapless Trump seemed on. Musk’s four-year-old son even appeared to make belittling feedback to Trump, one thing the president needed to endure with a facial features that appeared to oscillate between a reluctant grin and a painful grimace.

However what’s occurring? Why isn’t this relationship between the 2 males imploding as everybody assumed it might? The reply is that Musk and Trump each want one another very a lot. And whereas they might hate one another personally, it’s totally potential that their marriage of necessity will final not simply months, however years to ensure that each males to advance their fascistic pursuits.

Why do Trump and Musk want one another? For Musk, it now appears clear that he simply enjoys wielding energy. Musk is the wealthiest particular person on this planet, presently price about $394 billion in line with Forbes, and is the chief of half a dozen corporations. However company energy is completely different from political energy, and Musk basically purchased a ticket to be co-president with Trump when he dumped $277 million into the 2024 presidential election. That’s fairly a neat trick for a person who’s not technically capable of grow to be president as a result of he wasn’t born in the US. Musk is initially from South Africa and the U.S. Structure forbids anybody who isn’t a “pure born” citizen from holding the workplace. However the billionaire clearly discovered the subsequent smartest thing in America’s now super-charged oligarchy.

For Trump, it’s clear that Musk’s political organizing and social media web site X, previously generally known as Twitter, serve a goal lengthy after the election. It’s simple for a lot of Individuals to neglect that shadowy political cash can nonetheless be spent instantly after an election has been determined. And Musk is utilizing the political machine he established, together with his America PAC, to wield energy in ways in which assist Trump.

As one publicly recognized instance, Musk helped get Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed by throwing his cash and affect round to make it occur. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa had subtly indicated back in December that she won’t vote to verify Hegseth. Ernst served within the U.S. army, has instructed her story of being sexually assaulted in college, and has spoken concerning the tradition of sexual assault that traditionally pervades the armed services. Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017 and reached a $50,000 monetary settlement with an unnamed lady in line with the Associated Press, although he denies the allegations.

Musk has given tens of millions to a gaggle known as Constructing America’s Future, which purchased TV advert time in Iowa to stress Ernst to vote for Hegseth, in line with the Daily Caller. The advert, titled “Fighter,” known as Hegseth a “patriot” and a “adorned fight veteran” who was a sufferer of the “deep state.” The advert ends by urging viewers to name their senator, who in Iowa could be Ernst.

Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine all voted towards Hegseth, giving the senate a 50-50 vote, however he was in the end confirmed as Protection Secretary when Vice President JD Vance forged the tie-breaking vote.

Then there’s Musk’s affect on X, the social media platform he bought for about $44 billion again in late 2022. The positioning has been became an extremist platform, with a few of the worst holocaust deniers and racists now pervading the For You web page of even probably the most common customers. And whereas which means it arguably has much less affect, as common folks abandon X in droves, it nonetheless can be utilized to wield energy as a method to excite far-right mobs into motion. Generally that motion comes within the type of respectable political protest. Different occasions, it’s clear Musk’s followers are merely participating in extremist harassment.

It’s no secret at this level that many politicians actually worry for his or her lives when Musk tweets about them. And when a Wall Road Journal reporter wrote concerning the DOGE crew and racist tweets linked to a 25-year-old engineer, the journalist endured an onslaught of focused harassment. The engineer resigned, solely to be reinstated simply a day later, in line with Musk.

Utilizing one other weapon in his arsenal, Musk has threatened repeatedly to major any politician, Republican and Democratic alike, who doesn’t share his worldview. And that risk has the flexibility to maintain highly effective folks in line. Mitch McConnell dared to be the lone Republican to vote towards Robert F. Kennedy to steer the Division of Well being and Human Companies. However McConnell isn’t working for re-election, which appears to be the one purpose he had some spine. Musk can afford to lose one or two votes right here or there, as we’ve seen, as a result of Kennedy was nonetheless confirmed within the Senate by a vote of 52-48.

And these are simply a few of the actions by Musk we find out about publicly. The U.S. political system is about up in such a manner that a lot of the cash is untraceable. We solely find out about 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars} spent by Musk on the 2024 election because of leaks and monetary disclosure varieties for conventional political teams. There’s no telling how far more cash he’s given to shady teams that don’t must disclose their funding sources.

Trump wants the machine that Musk has constructed. And even when he sooner or later determined he didn’t want Musk’s cash anymore, the wealthiest man on this planet, recognized for his vindictive nature, is a nasty enemy to make. Musk may flip his tens of millions of dipshit followers into opponents of Trump’s agenda with the flip of a change. It might sound absurd to assume any member of the MAGA cult may activate Trump, however there are already far-right characters just like the Hitler-praising Nick Fuentes who typically criticize Trump for not being sufficiently helpful to their extremist trigger on one difficulty or one other.

And issues are simply going to go from dangerous to worse as the times and weeks drag on. Musk now has the flexibility to show off authorities packages that don’t profit him personally. The billionaire founding father of SpaceX has actually billions of {dollars} in authorities contracts, and it might seem to be a secure wager that each a type of packages is secure from the chopping block. Most cancers research together with meals and drugs for poor folks around the world, then again, can all go away.

Musk and Trump want one another to maintain destroying the nation. And whereas it’s totally potential they’ve some falling out sooner or later, it appears they’ll give you the option to take action far more injury earlier than that really occurs. And with Democrats largely pretending we’re not in the course of a constitutional disaster, the injury is prone to be substantial.

Right here’s what Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, spent her weekend tweeting about as 1000’s of federal staff have been illegally fired and fed-up Individuals staged protests at Tesla dealerships across the country.

It’s 3 levels in Minnesota. No time to remain inside….particularly if you want to clear your head…nothing higher than some vibrant sunshine, snow, and a brisk wind! pic.twitter.com/SB6no9TnrL

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) February 16, 2025

Thanks, Amy. You’re actually doing all your half. Possibly you can deal with this with a bit extra seriousness and do what you possibly can to cease Musk and Trump from tanking the U.S. financial system and promoting off the nation for elements.