Why would Elon Musk pick this fight with Donald Trump?

Perceived disloyalty by the world’s richest man has already fuelled the President’s renowned ire while Musk unleashed could torpedo Trump’s agenda – it’s a dangerous battle for both powerful men.

The relationship between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk unravelled this week in a flurry of public barbs and insults. Picture: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

They were powerful together. But now the clash between the president and the world’s richest man threatens to tear their ambitions apart – if they can’t find a way to detente.

A White House bent on retribution could easily jam up Musk and his companies in all sorts of ways: the President has already threatened to kill off government contracts. Musk had long complained about the regulatory scrutiny he had faced, unfairly he said, from the previous administration.

An unleashed Musk now appears poised to try to torpedo the President’s agenda – messing up the short window of time the Republican has before the midterms, when his presidency becomes much harder if Democrats take control of Congress.

The big question: why would Musk launch the war of words Thursday that quickly devolved into a stunningly personal slugfest.

It may simply be the ultimate delusion of grandeur, an overconfidence in his money and influence to shape his reality in Washington. His perceived disloyalty and arrogance seems likely to fuel Trump’s never-ending ire. It has also ignited an army of MAGA faithful to battle him on multiple fronts in hopes of pleasing their boss.

Yet Musk may be engaged in an asymmetric use of power that positions him as Chief Troll. This is a warning to Washington that he’s not totally gone and will go nuclear at the drop of a hat. Maybe the nameless bureaucrat or ambitious congressman will think twice before questioning him.

Just weeks ago, Musk was saying he had spent enough money – about $US300 million ($462m) to help put Trump and Republicans in power – in politics. On Thursday, he sounded new intent to play kingmaker for generations to come as members of Congress worried about which side of the fight to take in the Musk-Trump cage match.

“Some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3½ years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years,” Musk posted on his social-media platform X Thursday, one of many about his disagreement with the White House.

The idea of Musk pulling back from politics had excited investors in Tesla. They cheered on his feisty public appearances last month where he bristled at critical questions, seeing his anger as a sign that their “wartime CEO” was back and ready to deploy robot cars this month in Austin, Texas. Shares soared.

Instead of using his anger to focus him on his companies, though, Musk’s grievances with Trump’s policies also have a personal aspect and appear to have consumed him in recent days. On Thursday, as Musk exchanged social-media blows with Trump, Tesla shares fell 14 per cent.

Less than a week earlier, Trump was going all out to send Musk off in grace, hosting him in the Oval Office for a farewell. Yet Trump World appeared intent on adding a ceremonial knifing, too.

There were the anonymous administration officials in my colleagues’ recent report that quoted Trump asking about Musk’s contentious work cutting government spending, which has so far fallen well short of the promised $US1 trillion: “Was it all bullshit?”

The President then rescinded Musk’s buddy as pick to run NASA. It was as if all the President’s men – intent on sticking it to Musk on the way out – forgot that Musk was willing to burn everything down when the Biden administration essentially snubbed him by excluding him from an electric-car shindig years ago.

Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw earlier this year at a Washington conference to demonstrate his enthusiasm for cutting the size of government. Picture: Jose Luis Magana/AP

The perceived slights now are so much bigger. For Musk, this was a fight of principles – about cutting government spending and living up to campaign promises to do so.

Trump’s signature One Big, Beautiful Bill, if signed into law, has some spending cuts while also adding more than $US2 trillion to the nation’s deficit over time.

“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Musk posted Tuesday. Adding on Wednesday: “It is the Debt Slavery Bill.”

The criticism gnawed at the White House. On Thursday, Trump was predictably asked about Musk’s complaints. “Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”

Then Trump suggested Musk was motivated against the President’s bill because it contained provisions to eliminate support for electric cars.

Musk denied the claim. He pointed to previous statements of Trump marvelling that Musk was making such big sacrifices to help the administration yet hadn’t even sought to stop efforts to eliminate EV support.

Yet there Trump was on TV, belittling him. Soon Musk was targeting Trump by name (“@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files”) and Trump took to his own social-media platform, Truth Social, to return fire (Musk “just went CRAZY!”).

President Trump hailed Elon Musk last week as the Tesla CEO said he was leaving his role as the administration’s cost-cutting tsar. Picture: Nathan Howard/Reuters/WSJ

None of this week should actually be much of a surprise.

The first taste of how Musk would operate in government occurred in December as Trump was preparing to take power. Musk’s tweets – eerily similar to those sent this week – helped scuttle Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial end-of-the-year measure to avoid a government shutdown. That threw Congress into chaos as the billionaire gave cover to representatives unhappy with the bill’s big spending provisions.

Then, once Musk was in the White House as a special government employee, he seemed to succeed at getting attention – waving a literal chainsaw around – while angering aides and cabinet secretaries growing tired of his antics.

Musk’s time in Washington has demonstrated two things. He’s good at blowing things up and less good at building consensus – beyond his own echo chamber. He’s General William Sherman burning Atlanta, not Secretary of State George Marshall rebuilding Europe.

And that is a dangerous game to play.

Dow Jones Newswires