Inside Trump and Musk’s complicated relationship
The US President and his aides have sometimes expressed frustration with Elon Musk, but his advisers say the two remain close.
US President Donald Trump recently posed an evocative question to his advisers about billionaire Elon Musk’s promise to slash $US1 trillion in government spending.
“Was it all bullshit?” Trump asked, according to administration officials, wondering whether Musk could have ever come close to the cuts he promised to carry out through the Department of Government Efficiency.
The episode captured the flashes of scepticism and frustration from Trump and his senior aides over Musk’s rocky four-month tenure in government, with spats spilling out in the Middle East, cabinet meetings and occasionally in the Oval Office, according to people familiar with the matter. And they reflected the broader exasperation over roadblocks that have slowed Musk’s efforts, from court challenges to bureaucratic delays.
Trump continues to maintain a fondness for Musk and plans to see him in the future (they had dinner last week). He asked aides to organise a friendly farewell on Friday in the Oval Office, where the two men heaped praise on one another.
Trump has described Musk to aides as “50% genius, 50% boy,” according to White House staffers who heard his comments. Another White House aide said they heard Trump call Musk “90% genius, 10% boy.” The two would have long, discursive conversations over dinners at Trump’s club, but Musk sometimes confuses Trump with his eccentric humour, White House officials said.
“Elon is not really leaving,” Trump said on Friday. “He’s going to be back and forth.” Musk didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The relationship – for a time – had been among the most consequential in modern American politics. Musk spent nearly $US300 million to get Trump elected, helping clinch his return to the White House. And Trump gave Musk unprecedented access to the government, granting him far-reaching authority over the vast federal bureaucracy on the promise that he could reshape it.
Musk’s defenders said the billionaire made changes across the government – from slashing foreign aid to cutting the size of the workforce – that likely wouldn’t have been carried out without his fierce commitment to DOGE.
Trump learned about the timing of Musk’s departure in the same manner that the president himself has often used to share significant personnel news: via a social-media post. The president knew that Musk would be leaving soon, but not the exact timing until the post was sent, according to people familiar with Musk’s off-boarding.
The most recent blow-up between Musk and the White House occurred 7,000 miles away from Washington. Musk became so incensed by a deal led by his rival Sam Altman of OpenAI – and its planned rollout on a presidential trip – that he complained to at least three White House officials, leading them to get Trump involved.
The President’s schedule was rearranged to appease Musk. Trump had planned to speak about the deal on the trip, along with Altman and other officials, according to people familiar with the matter. But to calm Musk, the announcement was pushed back by a week, the people said, and Altman didn’t appear at a public event with Trump.
Meanwhile, Musk has been feeling blowback from his government service. “I have to get some heat off me and my companies,” Musk has said privately, according to senior administration officials, describing his rationale for leaving the government. He has been rocked by plummeting sales at Tesla, which saw its net income slide by 71% in the first quarter, and a series of setbacks at SpaceX, where just this week a rocket exploded.
In a cabinet meeting earlier this spring, Musk stood up and told assembled cabinet secretaries and other senior officials that they had no idea how much damage was being done to his cars and how difficult his business situation was, people who attended say. The remarks caught officials by surprise. Attorney-General Pam Bondi told Musk she would prosecute every criminal they could catch.
Musk has told White House aides he will support the president politically in the future, but Trump’s advisers said the $US100 million cheque he vowed to the president’s political-action committee hasn’t arrived. Musk, for his part, at times accused some in the White House of not being as committed as he was to changing Washington.
Trump’s advisers described a whirlwind ride with the world’s richest man, who occasionally slept at the White House, regularly sent late-night messages and often surprised senior administration officials with his decisions — and his public and private comments.
Musk clashed with senior White House officials, as he made dramatic government cuts without consulting others, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and senior officials in the communications office, aides said. For several weeks, top Trump aides regularly learned from news reports or cabinet secretaries what DOGE was doing — even when the cost-cutting department laid off hundreds of people or sought sensitive data from agencies, according to the aides. He also clashed with personnel aides over vetting of some of his staff, some of the people said, believing the White House shouldn’t control his team at DOGE.
Tension with Trump’s staff escalated to the point that Trump got involved and asked Wiles to play a more hands-on role managing Musk, according to people familiar with the matter.
Senior White House officials urged Musk and his team to tell them what he would be doing so they could message and defend it. Musk at times told staff they didn’t need to know everything about his plans. Eventually, Musk agreed to have regular meetings with Wiles.
Trump and his advisers were frustrated when Musk attacked Sen. Todd Young (R., Ind.) as a “deep state puppet” in a February social-media post. Trump advisers had worked for days to get Young to vote for Tulsi Gabbard as his nominee to be the director of national intelligence — and believed he was going to vote yes. Vice President JD Vance, serving as peacemaker, called Musk and asked him to tone it down, and Musk took down the post. Then, White House officials “picked up the pieces,” a Trump adviser said.
White House aides were also dismayed at how involved Musk became in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, because they believed Brad Schimel, who was backed by Musk and the state’s Republican Party, wasn’t going to win, and the race was becoming a referendum on Musk and Trump.
Musk was dismissive of those concerns, saying the polling he commissioned showed Schimel had a chance. Trump became annoyed after doing a town hall with Schimel, telling advisers that he was done with him because Schimel couldn’t answer questions cogently about abortion, according to people familiar with the matter. Schimel lost overwhelmingly.
Trump disliked how critical Musk was toward cabinet secretaries and his public attacks on trade adviser Peter Navarro, whom Musk called a “moron” and said was “dumber than a sack of bricks.” White House officials said Trump was surprised at how nasty Musk was in one cabinet meeting toward other members of his administration.
White House aides came to resent Katie Miller, Musk’s top aide, who regularly said she spoke for Musk. Musk was particularly tight with Stephen and Katie Miller, socialising with the couple outside of work.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told White House officials he needed control of his agency after Musk made drastic cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development without conferring with others, a White House official said. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy clashed with Musk over air-traffic controllers, White House aides said.
Behind the scenes, Musk was animated about Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, telling staff they would be terrible for the global economy.
Musk called top business executives, White House officials said, and urged them to talk to Trump and explain how misguided the tariffs were. He lobbied against the tariffs to some of Trump’s advisers and complained that Trump was getting bad advice, according to a person who spoke to him. Trump advisers told Musk that Trump believed in the tariffs and wasn’t going to change course.
Trump grew irritated in April when he learned Musk was getting a top-secret briefing at the Pentagon on China. Trump advisers said it was the most frustrated they had seen him about Musk’s actions. He said Musk getting the briefing was a conflict of interest, two administration officials said. Trump told aides that Musk, who has space contracts, shouldn’t be working at the Pentagon.
In recent weeks, Musk continued to frustrate White House officials with cuts at the Health and Human Services Department that some in the West Wing disagreed with — and with public attacks on the congressional tax bill. But Trump was less angry than some of his advisers about Musk’s attacks on the tax bill, officials said.
Musk spent less time at the White House in the final stretch of his tenure. At first, he was in the White House five or even seven days a week, people familiar with the matter said. Then, three days. By the end, he was there only occasionally, the people said.
In the Oval Office on Friday, Musk stood next to Trump, at times with his arms folded, and with a bruise around his eye. “Government’s a little nasty on occasion,” Trump said.
The Wall Street Journal
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