The Musk-Trump breakup
What happens when narcissistic co-leaders turn on each other?
During one of our recent conversations with scholar of fascism Ruth Ben-Ghiat, we talked about how the power-sharing arrangement between Donald Trump and Elon Musk was an innovation in authoritarian power — and wondered what kind of future the “strong buddy” relationship could possibly have.
That relationship has gotten a lot more problematic over the past couple of weeks, first with Musk’s exit from his unofficial (and never clearly defined) government role this past month, and then with his increasing anger at Trump and other MAGA insiders over the terms of the Republican budget. The break seemed clear enough that centrist Democrats — fresh off a conference at which they’d sought to position themselves against the party’s left — were reportedly looking for an opening to get their onetime ally back in the Democratic fold, even though Musk was opposed to the budget because its cuts weren’t draconian enough.
Then yesterday, the situation deteriorated even further, with Trump and Musk exchanging escalating barbs in a battle of social media posts that had the country reeling and some of their mutuals begging for a peaceful resolution. Musk accused Trump of complicity with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump threatened to cut off Musk’s government contracts. Musk threatened he’d just pull SpaceX out of its government commitments preemptively.
In an already unstable economy (helped little by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s failure to reassure Congress on the logic of Trump’s tariffs), the shock waves of the brawl were immediately obvious. With investors’ confidence shaken, Tesla stock was down more than 14 percent by the end of the day — its biggest one-day decline so far, finally dropping the carmaker’s market capitalization below a trillion dollars. As it turns out, Musk unleashed is something of a one-man Tesla Takedown.
It might be tempting to sit back, break out the popcorn, and say, “Let them fight.” But what’s unfolding is more than a mutual tantrum. Two of the world’s most powerful and most self-interested men are making and rolling out on the fly immensely consequential decisions in a series of angry outbursts, decisions which have serious implications for millions of real people, none of whom are non-player characters.
And whatever happens next (maybe they’ll reconcile, maybe Musk will start a third party), Musk and his DOGE teams have already done — and continue to do — considerable damage to this country’s institutions and to human beings here and around the world. And with congressional Republicans and the White House fully onboard with the slash-and-burn approach, that’s not likely to stop just because of a spat between strongmen.
For more of our coverage of Elon Musk and DOGE, click on the links below:
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Join us Monday, June 9, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, for our regular conversation with scholar of authoritarianism Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Then on Tuesday, June 10, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll speak to journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson about Joe Biden and the future of the Democratic Party. On Wednesday, June 11, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll meet with The Ink Book Club. And on Thursday, June 12, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’re back with political sage Anat Shenker-Osorio. We hope you can join us for all of our Live discussions!
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These headlines are clickbait. Dumb Americans who are addicted to drama and memes and sound bites are happily watching Regime 47 Reality TV while the Heritage Foundation continues to meticulously dismantle democracy behind the scenes. That they started during the Raegan years. Project 25 is being implemented without hesitation and those of us who understand what is really going on are terrified for our country.
Thank you for keeping your eye on the ball. This was just a distraction of all the real evils these men have and will do to the American People. Let's not take our eyes off what is happening to us. This is a perfect example of why two people should not have this much power over us!