The following is a truncated retelling of a Washington Post report on the collapse of the Trump-Musk alliance. We don’t know if Steven Bannon’s report is accurate or if the Washington Post version is accurate, but it is plausible so here it is. No one is denying any of this happened.
The Washington Post spoke with 17 people to discover what broke the alliance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. According to the report, Elon Musk’s drug use was troubling and causing issues from the beginning. If Elon is that immersed in drugs, it would be a problem. Trump has no use for drugs and alcohol. His brother died of substance abuse, and Trump doesn’t touch alcohol.
The report says that behind closed doors the conversations deal with retaliation against Musk dominates.
A litany of problems:
“…there was not much of a honeymoon period, as Musk’s brute-force tactics, lack of political acumen and ideological differences with the MAGA base eroded his relationship with top administration officials and eventually the president.”
…
“The first signs of trouble emerged in February, when an email landed in inboxes throughout the government directing federal employees to describe their five accomplishments over the past week.
“Cabinet officials and other agency leaders weren’t given advance notice of the memo, causing consternation at the highest levels of Trump’s administration.
“Despite the tension, Trump and his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, stuck by Musk’s side. But Wiles grew increasingly agitated about clashes between Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service and other administration leaders.
When Musk lost handily in Wisconsin, Republicans realized he had gone from political risk to liability.
“At the same time, Musk — like many other business leaders — was growing disillusioned with Trump’s economic policies.”
He was opposed to tariffs and called Peter Navarro a “moron.”
WaPo repeated Steve Bannon’s narrative about the fight between Musk and Bessent:
In mid-April, Musk and Bessent had gone into the Oval Office to make their respective cases about their preferences for acting IRS commissioner. Trump decided to support Bessent’s choice. That disagreement was first reported by the New York Times.
After Bessent and Musk exited the Oval Office and began walking down the hallway, the two men started to exchange insults, Bannon said he was told, adding that Bessent brought up Musk’s claims that he would uncover more than $1 trillion in wasteful and fraudulent government spending, which Musk had not succeeded at doing.
“Scott said, ‘You’re a fraud. You’re a total fraud,’” Bannon said in an interview.
Musk then rammed his shoulder into Bessent’s rib cage “like a rugby player,” Bannon said, and Bessent hit him back. Multiple people stepped in to break up the scrum as the two men reached the national security adviser’s office, and Musk was shuffled out of the West Wing.
“President Trump heard about it and said, ‘This is too much,’” Bannon said.
In April, Musk started to pull away to concentrate on Tesla and his goal of colonizing Mars. Having his ally Jared Issacman as head of NASA would be a great advantage. However, Issacman donated to Democrats and that was a liability.
Sergio Gor, the director of presidential personnel, who had numerous clashes with Musk over staffing, showed Trump Issacman’s donations. They would be a problem for an administration focused on loyalty.
Trump told Musk he was pulling Issacman’s nomination.
The Problem of Sergio Gor
Musk became suspicious that Gor leaked how Musk clashed with several Cabinet members. [We heard of one fight with Sean Duffy]. They kept up the appearance of a united front until Musk let loose on Trump over the Big Beautiful Bill.
Trump said Musk’s criticism of the bill was rooted in his concerns that it would eliminate a tax credit for electric-vehicle owners that benefited Tesla. Musk denied that accusation and responded with a tirade.
A reconciliation looked possible until morning. Trump said he wasn’t interested. Musk fanned the flames with the unsubstantiated Epstein smear.
“There’s hope that there’s going to be a reconciliation,” said one White House ally close to both Trump and Musk worlds. “But it’ll never be the same.”
Donald Trump won the election and he gets to decide, not Musk. Elon is now talking about forming a third party.
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