Who would have guessed that two hypersensitive egotists were going to fall out? Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s bromance was so passionate that Musk declared that he loved Trump “as much as a straight man can love another man”. Now, though, the Tesla CEO, X owner and DOGE figurehead is trading vicious barbs with the President of the USA.
Musk believes that Trump’s tax bill is a “disgusting abomination” which will saddle the US with “crushing” debt. Trump — rarely receptive to criticism — has claimed that his bill is “one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress” — only one of them? — and has suggested that Musk has turned on him because he is abolishing the electric vehicles mandate.
Musk, in a striking escalation of hostilities, posted on X:
Time to drop the really big bomb:
@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.
Have a nice day, DJT!
We should not lose sight of the substantive issue here. Musk’s frustration no doubt has a lot to do with the fact that DOGE has not found enough fraud and waste to make a big impact on the federal budget. Trump, who has political instincts that Musk does not, is hardly going to raze spending on social security, defence and healthcare. Like it or loathe it, that’s not going to happen.
I want to focus here on Musk’s “really big bomb”, though. It is a major allegation. We know that Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were friends, though it has been alleged that Trump later banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago stomping grounds for hitting on a member’s daughter. (Of course, Trump has also been extensively accused of sexual misconduct against adult women.)
But why is Musk only mentioning this now? It seems opportunistic to imply that Trump has some amount of complicity in Epstein’s sex trafficking exploits — as well as that he is covering it up — only after Musk has fallen out with him for unrelated reasons. Actually, it simply is opportunistic.
But Musk is also a man who called a British caver “pedo guy” after they had squabbled over Musk’s involvement in the Tham Luange cave rescue. Musk, for all his antics, is a devastatingly unfunny man, so when he argues with someone he has to reach for a “big bomb” because he is unable to wield the rapier of wit.
That these men can’t settle a disagreement without immersing each other in a swamp of spite should deeply concern us
The problem is that accusations of involvement in sex crimes are not to be levelled lightly. It isn’t just dangerous for the targets of the allegations, it diminishes the seriousness of the crimes. That Musk appears to be backtracking on his hostility towards Trump, agreeing with the Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman’s suggestion that Musk and Trump “should make peace” because they are “stronger together than apart”, is mindblowing. Were his allegations frivolous (which would make him dishonest and ignoble) or were they serious (which should make renewed collaboration morally obscene)?
The drama between Musk and Trump is undeniably entertaining. With the stakes involved in their work, though, their personalities are downright appalling. Musk is a man who works on the frontlines of future technology, when it comes to AI and space travel, while Trump is waist-deep in the conflicts over Ukraine and Palestine.
That these men can’t settle a disagreement without immersing each other in a swamp of spite should deeply concern us. Clearly, they are emotional infants, and we are in the unfortunate position of being their toys.
