Few predicted Elon Musk’s time in the White House would end with him accusing the president of cavorting with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. But here we are. Perhaps it was inevitable. The split between Musk and Trump was fast and public. Musk unleashed an assault on the president’s flagship legislation on X last night, called for the president to be impeached and replaced by JD Vance, and polled his followers on whether a third party should be established. He was flinging out tweets to his 220 million followers with relish and abandon.
Musk spent his time in Trump’s government as head of Doge this year gutting key departments such as foreign aid and firing thousands of federal workers. Trump never seemed that interested in restructuring government bureaucracy. He let Musk maraud through Washington out of what looked like a personal affection for the erratic tech billionaire. At his farewell press conference in the Oval Office last week, Trump gave Musk a token key to the White House while the Tesla executive stood awkwardly by, sporting a black eye.
In the end, Musk’s promise to cut spending by $2trn was made redundant by what he calls the “Debt Slavery Bill”, which is predicted to increase the deficit by $2.4trn. Musk is convinced the country is facing an imminent debt crisis, a prospect that is leading to growing alarm within the financial markets. In May, one major credit rating agency downgraded the quality of US debt for the first time since 1917.
The split means that Musk’s credibility has cratered within the Maga movement. Trump still reigns unchallenged. His grip on Maga is total and most of his fans – regardless of how many retweets Musk can muster – hang on his word with religious fealty. Now, Musk has been exiled from the kingdom. Entering the blacklist in Trumpland neuters any influence a wannabe Maga player might have with the movement. He has been expelled from the fiefdom with his reputation in tatters. It’s a warning – if any was needed – that Trump’s collaborators get burnt.
That said, Musk is not your average lackey. Many wily Republicans on the Hill will remember that he spent nearly $300m to get Trump elected. Wealth wields power. The Republicans are polling poorly, with the midterms only 18 months away. Maybe Musk will use his galactic wealth to rally some support within Congress by dangling donations in front of fiscal hawks. Or perhaps he is amputating himself from an administration which he now sees as fiscally incontinent and flirting with default.
Within the Maga movement, chalk this down as a defeat for the tech bros in the war against the nationalist populists. The latter celebrated last night. While the war on X unfolded, British ambassador Peter Mandelson toasted the unveiling of a plaque marking the “ambassador’s sofa” at Maga hideout Butterworth’s with restaurateur Raheem Kassam over English sparkling wine. The former Farage adviser then popped outside wielding a cigarette and a pint of Guinness to heckle a passing Tesla Cybertruck.
“Today was really important,” Kassam told me. “Remember in 2012 the Tea Party effectively got captured by the corporatists. They sold out the Tea Party to the Koch network. Whereas today, Maga showed that it is not for sale. No policy is for sale. No fealty is for sale, and this allows, once again, Donald Trump to be Donald Trump.”
Butterworth’s regular Steve Bannon, whom Kassam used to work for, celebrated his victory against the arch techno-feudalist by calling for South African-born Musk to be deported. Another Bannon agent told me: “Steve isn’t the type to say I told you so, but I told you so”.
Control shifted during this surreal war between world powerbrokers. This was the exercise of power as entertainment, delivered in meme-form. It unfurled with the tone of a bitter livestream between rival Minecraft junkies.
[See also: The Biden cover-up]
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