OPINION:
President-elect Donald Trump went through five Homeland Security Department secretaries in his first term in the White House. In his mind, each one was an idiot — even though he had effusively praised them all as brilliant when nominating them.
Mr. Trump has fallen out with people. It’s what he does. So you’ve got to wonder how long his bromance with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk can last before the fireworks.
The two titans of wealth and ego find themselves entangled in a partnership that’s as bizarre as it is, apparently, functional. But like any bromance, there’s always that awkward moment when one half starts showing up just a bit too often.
As expected, Mr. Trump is reportedly experiencing a mild case of Musk fatigue. According to White House correspondent Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, Mr. Trump has been grumbling about Elon’s limitless enthusiasm for drop-by visits and his uncanny ability to “park himself” squarely in Mr. Trump’s line of sight.
It seems Mar-a-Lago isn’t just Mr. Musk’s Airbnb these days — it’s his backstage pass to everything MAGA. For the low price of $2,000 a night at Mr. Trump’s Banyan Cottage, Mr. Musk enjoys perks like attending personnel meetings and crashing the occasional billionaire showdown dinner. Forget Jeff Bezos. There’s a new plus-one in town.
While Mr. Trump may publicly gush about Mr. Musk being his “mega-donor” and “First Buddy,” it seems the once-cordial dynamic has veered into “OK, but do you need to visit again?” territory.
And let’s not forget those Democratic digs calling the billionaire “President Musk.” Even as Mr. Trump layers compliments on his SpaceX sidekick, the whispers of Mr. Musk running the show have been getting under Mr. Trump’s famously delicate skin. According to Ms. Haberman, it’s the taunt that irks the commander-in-chief-to-be.
“It definitely bothers him,” she said. “The ‘President Musk’ line was always going to be a way to get him. Trump’s not a wind-up toy, but there certainly are very specific things that can zotz him.”
It makes sense, of course — they’re living in a veritable bromantic echo chamber. Mr. Trump has his loyal orbit of sycophants, and Mr. Musk, well, he has become the tech world’s version of Willy Wonka in the chocolate factory, doling out Neuralinks and Teslas while batting away the PR disaster of cratering X app downloads.
For now, the stakes for sticking together are higher than Mr. Musk’s SpaceX rockets. Mr. Musk dumped $250 million into Mr. Trump’s campaign war chest, which means access to regulatory goodies, power, and potential Trump mandates that could turn Tesla and SpaceX into government darlings.
And Mr. Trump? Mr. Musk offers something most people in his ecosystem don’t — fresh ideas and, perhaps, a charm stretching beyond the 2024 MAGA monochrome. Plus, it sure doesn’t hurt that he’s got a friend worth nearly half a trillion dollars.
Still, there’s the lingering question of how long Mr. Trump will tolerate sharing the spotlight with Mr. Musk. It must be disconcerting for the former president to realize he’s not the only showman commanding attention in those billionaire circles, even as Democrats egg him on with narratives about Mr. Musk calling the shots. Both seem to alternately benefit from — and bristle at — the relationship, proof that two massive egos rarely coexist in harmony for long.
Whether the two stay bros long-term depends on how much each stands to gain — and lose. Mr. Musk’s bottom line has certainly improved since cozying up to Mr. Trump, and the president-elect can always use a megadonor ready to write checks big enough to frighten the Federal Reserve. But the moment one becomes a liability to the other, expect fireworks. Possibly literal ones because it’s Mr. Musk; we know he’s got a rocket somewhere prepped for drama.
For now, though, the bromance limps along, a peculiar dance between competing alphas who share many interests — many involving themselves — but might not have the bandwidth or patience to keep each other around forever.
With Mr. Trump heading back to the Oval Office, Mr. Musk might find himself more of a useful ally than a perpetual house guest. And who knows, maybe Mr. Trump will follow former President Bill Clinton and put his big-money donor in the Lincoln Bedroom. At this point, he certainly paid enough for it.
• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter @josephcurl
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