Inside the mind of Elon Musk, by those who worked for him
Insiders reveal the moods and methods of Donald Trump’s ‘first buddy’ — as we track his increasing fixation on Keir Starmer and visualise his inner circle.
A warning does the rounds at Tesla: wear the right clothes, do not make suggestions and be sure to gauge Elon Musk’s mood before you meet him.
Insiders paint a portrait of a man with few friends and a worldview shaped by a rocky relationship with his father. One tech worker recounted a meeting with Musk at Tesla in 2019 in which he was advised by senior staff not to wear any patterned clothing, suede shoes or fragrance. Such attire could send Musk, 53, into a rage. Musk’s assistants recall checking his X feed to assess his mood before confirming meetings for the day.
One said: “He seems to have this maniacal quest for power or legacy.”
The ‘first buddy’
Banyan is only a few hundred feet from the main house at Mar-a-Lago and, for a man whose wealth is said to increase by up to dollars 50 million a day, the cottage is a snip at dollars 2,000 a night. Musk has been spending time here since the election, gaining the nickname “first buddy”.
Musk is said to have dropped in on Donald Trump’s dinners, including one with his tech rival Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta boss Trump once threatened to jail, has also made a beeline for Florida.
All this cosiness among billionaires is not going down well with Trump’s base. His largely white, working-class Maga loyalists view Musk with open hostility.
“Trump likes being around other wealthy people … but there are limits to everything,” one source close to the president-elect’s team said. “Certainly people were very annoyed at [Musk’s] presence. Does he have to have a say on everything? It was definitely irksome.”
For Trump supporters, irksome may be understating it. In a post on X, Musk, who arrived in America on an H1-B visa and has used them to employ workers at Tesla, wrote: “If you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be.”
This is directly at odds with the president-elect’s “America first” agenda. Amid reports in The New York Times of strained relations between the pair, one source said Musk had “taken the hint” and backed off.
“Democrats are very keen for a wedge to be driven between the two … By all accounts, I hear they are very close,” one ex-Musk executive said.
A blitz of Britain
At the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford in 2012, Musk told an audience of students Britain’s future was positive. “Just returned … I met with many interesting people,” he wrote on Twitter. “I really like Britain!”
Just returned from a trip to London and Oxford, where I met with many interesting people. I really like Britain!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2012
Today, he really does not. On the face of it, this shift has been triggered by the right-wing riots in Britain that followed the killing of three girls at a dance class in Southport. Firmly in his sights is Sir Keir Starmer. When the prime minister criticised social media companies for circulating false rumours about Southport, Musk replied: “Insane.”
Musk has his 210 million followers focused on events in Westminster, posting or reposting comments about UK politics more than 200 times in the past seven days. He has demanded a national inquiry into the decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.
What is irony? https://t.co/nbhRkhIKr0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2025
“Elon is ruthless at exploiting weakness and what he sees in the UK is an administration that is politically inept,” said one executive who formerly worked closely with Musk. “[Labour] have not started … on a good footing and there is a huge window of opportunity now for Elon to further destabilise that administration by putting pressure on them.”
Musk appears to be expanding his interests in Britain. There are rumours that he wants to buy Liverpool Football Club, in his grandmother’s hometown.
What may be a step too far, however, is Musk’s support of Tommy Robinson. Musk has questioned the conviction of the far-right activist who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court. This, in turn, has prompted a falling-out with Nigel Farage, who Musk said “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead Reform UK.
The top team
Musk’s venture into politics has featured a reshuffling in his coterie of advisers, investors, family and friends. Venture capitalists such as Shaun Maguire, John Hering and Joe Lonsdale have worked with Musk as he joins Trump’s transition team. So has Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle. But this esteemed company does not make Musk any less of a loose cannon. Bruce Daisley, a former Twitter boss, said the free-speech evangelist had been “radicalised by his own platform”, cheered on by millions of supporters. “The mistake we can make with Musk is thinking there’s a master plan,” said Daisley. “This is a guy who’s gone down the rabbit hole of conspiracy and had his head turned by power.”
Daddy issues
For a man whose every utterance can move markets, friends and family have little to say about Musk. His estranged father, Errol, who lives in South Africa, is a frequent pundit but the two have not spoken since Errol supported Trump at a time when Elon opposed the Republican.
He has fathered 12 children and is a pronatalist. In this area, the thrice-divorced Musk is aligned with Trump, who wants a “new baby boom”.
It might be too simple to say that in Trump, 25 years his senior, Musk has found a new father figure. Yet insiders are united in at least one assessment.
Though they may be firm friends for now, the alliance between Musk and Trump may not last.
Then, things will get very real indeed.
The Times
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