Where there is Donald Trump, there is (almost) always Elon Musk. The president and his ‘partner’, omnipresent and protagonist. Mr Always in the spotlight, even too much. To the point, according to the rumors collected by NBCnews, to be done unnerve someone inside the president-elect’s magic circle.
The almost constant presence of the tech billionaire at Mar a Lago in these days in which the tycoon is preparing his new administration is starting to wear down the patience of some members of the Trump team and step on the toes of the official team of transition.
“As if he were the co-president, he brags to anyone”
“He acts like he’s the co-president and makes sure everyone knows it,” explains one of the sources. “He takes a lot of credit for the president’s victory, bragging about the America Pac and X to anyone who will listen. He’s trying to make President Trump feel indebted to him, but – adds the tycoon’s loyalist – the president is not indebted to anyone”.
The founder of Tesla and SpaceX, who Trump has appointed to lead the Doge, acronym for the department for government efficiency with a clear reference to Dogecoin, Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, has participated in Trump’s confidential talks in recent days, starting from the phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky. And yesterday he was also at the president-elect’s side during the meeting with the Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The broadcaster’s sources reveal that he has been omnipresent this week, always sitting at Trump’s side, speaking in meetings and phone calls. He has “an opinion on everything, he wants it to seem like his word counts for everything (even if it doesn’t),” the well-informed sources continue, explaining that Musk does it in such an assertive way that it’s starting to get annoying to more than one of Trump’s magic circle.
Not to mention, they add, that the richest man in the world – used to ruling over everyone – seems not to understand a key rule for functioning in ‘Trump’s world’, namely that of keeping a low profile so as not to offend his notoriously explosive character, and just as self-centered as the tycoon. Instead, the billionaire, who invested at least $152 million for Trump’s victory, appears more focused on pushing his agenda rather than Trump’s: “Nominating people because they are loyal to Elon doesn’t work,” he said.
Trump’s ‘version’
When asked by the broadcaster, transition team spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that “Elon Musk and President Trump are great friends and brilliant leaders working together to make America great again. Elon Musk is a unique economic leader of his generation – he added referring to the task entrusted to him – our federal bureaucracy will certainly benefit from his ideas and his efficiency”.
But what does Trump say? “He loves Mar-a-Lago”, the joke the tycoon would have made when speaking to Republican deputies in Washington. In fact, the new president would have joked about the fact that he can’t get rid of Elon Musk, according to what sources who participated in the closed-door meeting revealed to CNN. Obviously also present was Musk, who was praised several times by the tycoon, but at least this time he would not speak.