Donald Trump isn’t hesitating to poke fun at his key allies, including tech mogul Elon Musk.
During his first meeting with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill as president-elect, Trump took a jab at Musk, emphasizing his authority over the billionaire.
“Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him,” Trump joked on Wednesday, adding, “Until I don’t like him.” According to reports, Musk has spent nearly every day of the past week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. He has been seen golfing with Trump, dining with him and Melania, and even joining Trump during phone calls with global leaders like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“Everyone laughed.” “It was that uneasy laughter, the kind you get when Trump jokes at the expense of one of his allies—jokes that everyone knows carry a grain of truth and cast the person as subservient to Trump.”
According to sources, Musk’s new government role—co-heading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, nicknamed “DOGE”—isn’t particularly serious, comparing it to a lobbyist position with minimal authority.
Musk might gain favor through his extended presence around Trump, who is known for being influenced by those he spends time with. However, tech journalist Kara Swisher believes their partnership will eventually collapse. “Both are narcissists, and only one can be the main figure—Trump, who just won the election,” she said.
Swisher referenced past figures like Steve Bannon, who played a major role in Trump’s first campaign but quickly lost favor. “Trump uses and discards people frequently,” she added. “Even with Musk, it’s only a matter of time before they clash.”
