A juvenile AI-generated image circulating on social media—especially Elon Musk’s X platform, an effervescent beacon of class, dignity, and social responsibility—has crystallized growing concerns about the weird power dynamic between Musk and incoming president-elect Donald Trump.
The image, shared by Republican political commentator and chief Trump antagonizer Rick Wilson with the caption “Master and servant. Pass it on,” shows Musk occupying the president’s chair. Trump stands nearby as a dutiful waiter—a visual metaphor proving weirdly valid.
“Elon Musk has Donald Trump in a vise,” declared Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) on MSNBC, as Musk’s bombardment of over 150 posts against the bipartisan spending bill preceded and appeared to direct Trump’s own opposition. Goldman didn’t mince words: “Right now, we have President Elon Musk. And Trump? Maybe he’s vice president, I guess. Vice presidents don’t do much, so that makes sense.” That last part isn’t exactly true, but I digress.
The suggestion that Musk might be usurping Trump’s authority prompted an unusually defensive response from Trump’s team. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop,” insisted transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, in what appeared to be damage control against growing “President Musk” rhetoric.
Late-night host Seth Meyers captured the awkwardness of Trump’s position with a pointed pop culture reference: “Oh my god, you let him do you a favor, and now you can’t get rid of him—you got ‘Cable Guy’-ed by Elon Musk. Every time you look out that little keyhole, he gonna be there.”
The numbers support concerns of an unequally yoked partnership. On X, the platform Musk owns, his 207.9 million followers more than double Trump’s 96.2 million—creating an unprecedented dynamic where the president-elect’s message reaches less than half the audience of his appointed advisor. On top of that, Musk cheats and makes sure all of his messaging is blown through an algorithmic megaphone.
“The fact that Donald Trump has been completely AWOL during these negotiations to the point where only after Elon Musk publicly tweets about his displeasure about this budget deal, all of a sudden, Donald Trump, chief of staff to Elon Musk, comes trotting in and blows up the deal,” Goldman observed on MSNBC.
As journalist Jonathan Greenberg noted in a tweet reply to Wilson’s AI image, “This bromance will not have a happy ending.” The observation points to an interesting concern: Either Trump is really going to let Musk cook on broil, or he’s going to push Musk by the wayside and make him grovel, especially as it relates to the maintenance of his desperately needed government contracts.
By naming Musk co-lead of his completely non-governmental “Department of Government Efficiency,” Trump has given institutional backing to Musk’s self-serving foolishness. But this official role has evolved into something far more potent than anticipated, raising alarming questions about plutocratic influence over governmental functions by manifestly unqualified individuals.
For better or (probably) worse (for all of us), Trump has trapped himself in a dynamic of his own creation. Having chosen to embrace Musk’s support (via his fantastically unearned wealth) and platform, he now faces the challenge of maintaining his leadership position—at least in public, which is all that Trump cares about. At the same time, his appointed advisor increasingly acts as a shadow president who refuses to remain, y’know, in the shadows.
The situation suggests either an archvillain master strategy where Trump and his team use Musk as a lightning rod for controversial positions or a genuine power struggle where the president-elect finds himself increasingly reactive to his advisor-slash-sugar daddy’s agenda. Or Trump no longer has the necessary facility, and Musk is taking advantage of the situation. Whatever the case is, the question isn’t just whether this particular alliance will survive but what its existence means for democratic institutions. Will we normalize Musk as a leader—an unelected one at that?
Published: Dec 22, 2024 03:54 am