Trump vs Musk: Perils of confronting POTUS

During Tesla CEO Elon Musk's tenure heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for President of the United States (POTUS) Donald Trump, their relationship was characterized by some as a bromance.

- Frank F Islam

Indeed, when Musk left DOGE on May 30, President Trump gave him a gold key to the White House.

The Trump-Musk relationship, which at that time appeared to be rapturous, unraveled shortly thereafter. That occurred when Musk publicly opposed Trump's major legislative initiative—the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act—calling it a "disgusting abomination" in a post on X on June 3. After that, there was an exchange of insults between Musk and Trump on their respective social media platforms X and Truth Social. For about one week, it appeared this war of words might go on for some time. Then, on June 10, Musk walked back his comments, expressing regret over some of his recent posts about President Trump stating that "they went too far". His post on X, which appeared at 3:04 a.m. in Washington on June 10, was not completely surprising. Trump's self-styled First Buddy had gone conspicuously quiet in the past few days, as he rebuffed overtures from Musk's camp seeking a rapprochement.

This public capitulation of the world's richest man before the world's most powerful individual came just a week after their alliance collapsed in such a chaotic and very public fashion. It underscores who holds the upper hand in this clash between two of the most influential people in the world today.