Pam Bondi: "If you're gonna touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything, you better watch out, because we're coming after you." pic.twitter.com/lFuFbfu6il
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 14, 2025
Meanwhile, according to Tara Palmieri at Puck:
The tolerance for Elon Musk inside of the White House is wearing thin, as they deal with the fallout of his calamitous interview with Larry Kudlow when he touched the third rail – entitlements. Even though Trump’s staffers are terrified of Musk, they know that if you try to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, you die, politically speaking.
“It’s no longer simmering resistance, people are fucking furious,” said a source with knowledge of the situation.
“Medicaid is not just for Black people in the ghetto, these are our voters,” said a Republican operative close to the White House.
I mean, if it was just for the Black people that would be one thing…
According to Palmieri, the White House pollster, Tony Fabrizio, says he isn’t polling on Musk but it’s clear from outside polls that he is extremely unpopular. The people in the White House hate him:
I can’t even begin to explain the anger I’m hearing from within the White House and agencies over Musk. If he’s telling the Polish Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski, “Be quiet, small man” and reminding Trump’s cabinet that he’s the billionaire in the room, then you can only imagine how he treats a White House official, even at the deputy chief of staff level, and there are many of them in this top-heavy White House.
“He’s demonstrably dismissive of people who have incredibly important jobs because he doesn’t understand the government,” said the source with knowledge of the matter.
I’ve been reporting for months that Musk has been disrespectful to Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. .. “He treats [Wiles] like a secretary in front of people,” the source with knowledge of the matter said. “The second most powerful person in Washington, the first woman and someone who has done a good job of keeping the trains running on time.”
But I’ve heard that it’s even become too much for Wiles, who for the most part has been delivering on what matters most to Trump—producing the Presidency with a daily event featuring co-star Musk and a cast of cabinet members for the press. She’s a professional and a survivor, but she’s being bombarded with calls from cabinet secretaries furious over cuts and members worried about state programs…
“He treats cabinet secretaries like they’re messenger boys,” the source with knowledge of the matter said.
Apparently, Trump is fine with it even though Musk is wrapped around him like a hungry anaconda:
For now, Trump likes having Musk around, even though Musk is extremely clingy and Trump likes his space. (It’s clearly a quality he appreciates in his wife Melania.) So their love affair seems to be lasting. Perhaps the only thing that might break them up is Musk’s clinginess.
Trump is thrilled that the richest man in the world licks his boots. It’s one of the main reasons he believes he is invincible. With the power of the presidency back in his hands, Supreme Court immunity and the wealthiest people on earth sucking up to him he believes he can literally do anything he wants. And maybe he can.