Everyone’s been saying that Elon’s really in charge. And it stands to reason. Poor Trump is obviously past his prime. He’s 78 and fading fast. It happens.
But he’s not happy about it:
He’s rattled. And I don’t think he got quite the crowd reaction he was expecting…
Trump most definitely does not like having smart people around him and he certainly doesn’t like having someone who take the spotlight as Musk does. It’s bothering him. But I don’t know if he can get rid of him. He’s scared of Musk’s money and the fact that Musk is now a MAGA leader means he is a competitor. He showed that this week with the wrecking ball he took to the continuing resolution that Trump had signed off on.
And yes, he did sign off on it, despite what the Trumpers are saying. The Washington Post has a good tick-tock on how it all fell apart (gift link):
Several people close to Johnson say the speaker talked frequently with the president-elect and kept him abreast of ongoing negotiations. But another Trump adviser described him as blindsided by the bill’s contents and furious. The first adviser said the president-elect was with Musk at the time, and Trump told NBC he encouraged Musk to post messages condemning the bill.
“I told him that if he agrees with me, that he could put out a statement,” Trump said.
But two people familiar with the situation say that Trump and Johnson were on a call Wednesday morning where the president-elect did not express displeasure with the proposal.
I think we know what really happened. Johnson kept Trump appraised every step of the way because of course he did. Trump lied about telling Musk to post those messages. He would have been right there with him if it was a strategy. No, he was on the golf course or still in bed when it was going on and only after he saw the huge brouhaha caused by Musk’s tweeting did he get in on the action.
He knows he’s weak. And he knows Musk is making him look weak. But he may be stuck with him. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.