 "Billionaire Elon Musk jumps around on stage in support of Donald Trump at one of his election campaign rallies. Source: AP.")
Is there trouble in paradise already?
The bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk may already be hitting a roadblock.
Musk, the world’s richest man, seems to have had a blazing row with one of the President-elect’s top advisers.
Musk’s growing influence on the President-elect is not said to have gone done well with those in the Trump orbit.
Trump, remember, has tapped Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to run the Department of Government Efficiency together.
So, what do we know about the Trump-Musk bromance? And is it already on thin ice?
L****et’s take a closer look:
Trump-Musk bromance
Musk, who endorsed the now President-elect and campaigned with him, was among the high-profile celebrities that took in the election results with Trump.
“We have a new star. A star is born: Elon,” Trump gushed in his victory speech.
“He’s an amazing guy. We were sitting together tonight. You know, he spent two weeks in Philadelphia, in different parts of Pennsylvania, campaigning.”
Musk has seemingly never left Trump’s side since.
He seems to have taken up permanent residence in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
According to @ElonJet, a Bluesky account that tracks the movements of Musk’s private plane, Musk has been in West Palm Beach for around eight of the past 10 days.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMusk , who has attended a UFC fight with Trump, has referred to himself as the ‘First Buddy.’
He has also played golf at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and taken a number of pictures with the Trump family.
Not only has Musk been dining with Trump at his table on the patio of Mar-a-Lago, he has also been present when Trump has taken phone calls from world leaders.
It has been widely reported that Musk joined Trump’s call with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Musk is also close to Trump’s transition co-chair, Howard Lutnick , the billionaire CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.
“I can’t get him out of here,” Trump recently joked about Musk. “I like having him here as well. He’s done a fantastic job, an incredible mind.”
However, the two men may have a problem – they might be too alike.
Musk is famed for his manic working habits and self-described “hardcore” style, running his companies as personal fiefdoms in which his authority is rarely challenged.
From factory production lines to the boardroom, he is used to getting his way with an abrasive style that sees him fire people on the spot and sometimes insult their intelligence in public.
Trump, also a tycoon fond of firing and humiliating people publicly, demands total loyalty and has chafed against sharing the limelight with others in the past.
He also likes to play his advisors and cabinet members against each other, former aides say.
Growing friction
Musk had a public row with Trump transition official Boris Epshteyn last week, according to the Axios news site.
Epshteyn — a top Trump adviser who has pushed a number of controversial names in Trump’s cabinet including Matt Gaetz – is among those in Trump world dismayed by Musk’s growing influence.
Musk has wondered aloud if Epshteyn is being given too much sway over Trump’s picks, people in the know told Axios.
This, even as Musk is pushing his own preferred choices for Cabinet picks.
Epshteyn, meanwhile, is said to be upset at Musk second-guessing his picks for Cabinet.
Musk and Epshteyn had a “massive blowup” and a “huge explosion” at a public dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
Musk claimed Epshteyn was leaking details of Trump’s picks to the media, while Epshteyn replied that Musk had no idea what he was talking about.
Musk also openly endorsed Lutnick – Trump’s transition team chair – for US Treasury secretary on Saturday, setting up an early test of his influence.
Trump is also considering billionaire investor Scott Bessent, who has talked up tariffs as a negotiating ploy.
Bessent told Bloomberg News in August that he views tariffs as a “one time price adjustment” and “not inflationary,” and that tariffs imposed during a second Trump administration would be directed primarily at China.
In a Fox News op-ed last week, Bessent said that tariffs are “a useful tool for achieving the president’s foreign policy objectives. Whether it is getting allies to spend more on their own defense, opening foreign markets to US exports, securing cooperation on ending illegal immigration and interdicting fentanyl trafficking, or deterring military aggression, tariffs can play a central role.”
An advocate for imposing wide-ranging tariffs, Lutnick told CNBC in September that “tariffs are an amazing tool for the president to use—we need to protect the American worker.”
On Saturday, Musk, who has been an influential voice at Trump’s side during the transition, came out in favor of Lutnick on his social media site X.
“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change,” Musk posted. “Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change.”
But reports in the The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal seem to show that Musk’s backing of Lutnick may be backfiring.
Trump is also considering ex-Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and Apollo Global Management chief executive Marc Rowan.
Others in Trump world already seem to be at the ends of their tether with Musk.
“He’s behaving as if he’s a co-president and making sure everyone knows it,” one of the people told CNBC.
“And he’s sure taking lots of credit for the president’s victory. Bragging about America PAC and X to anyone who will listen. He’s trying to make President Trump feel indebted to him. And the president is indebted to no one,” the person added.
Musk has “opinion on and about everything,” another source added. “He wants to be seen as having say in everything (even if he doesn’t).”
The source said Musk doesn’t get that the key to hanging around Trump is to not upstage him in any way.
His behaviour will hurt him with Trump in the long run, the source added.
The Trump team is trying to put out rumours of a rift.
Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt was quoted as saying by CNBC,: “Elon Musk and President Trump are great friends and brilliant leaders working together to Make America Great Again. Elon Musk is a once in a generation business leader and our federal bureaucracy will certainly benefit from his ideas and efficiency.”
Another Trump-Vance spokesperson, Anna Kelly, added, “Elon Musk is a genius, an innovator, and has literally made history by building creative, modern, and efficient systems. Elon Musk has dedicated himself to America’s future by offering to serve with President Trump to ensure our government works more efficiently and uses America’s taxpayer dollars effectively.”
But others have predicted that the bromance won’t last.
‘Can’t stay friends for long’
“I don’t think so,” Adam Clark Estes, senior technology correspondent at Vox, told ABC. “I don’t think those two personalities can stay friends for too long. Even if he’ll last the next two months, I think that he’ll leave a tremendous impression on the Trump administration.”
Some say a clash between the two men is inevitable.
Tech journalist Kara Swisher told CNN that Musk “definitely inserts himself all the time; that’s his style. That’s why he’s just suddenly shown up there like the guest that wouldn’t leave,” she remarked.
“I’ve heard from Trump people calling me saying ‘oh wow, this is odd.’ And I’m like yeah it is, you’ll see much more of it,” Swisher added.
She said Musk probably won’t go “until Trump throws him out. Which could happen, because they’re both really strong personalities who like to be at the centre of attention.”
“There can be only one narcissist as head of the country, and that’s Donald Trump,” Swisher added. Trump goes through people like tissues, essentially. And even if it’s Musk, they’re going to clash at some point.”
With inputs from agencies