Donald Trump has become embroiled in a behind-the-scenes power struggle with Elon Musk over the jettisoned Republican-led spending deal.
One month before the president-elect returns in triumph to the White House, he is already facing a challenge to his authority from the tech titan credited with doing the most to get him there.
Trump may have asserted his own power over Republicans on Capitol Hill in demolishing the compromise deal that appeared all set to be ratified—but he was still taking second billing to the world’s richest man.
Musk first intervened with a 4.15 a.m. Eastern time tweet on Wednesday saying, “This bill should not pass,” and it wasn’t until late that afternoon that Trump weighed in with a joint statement with JD Vance urging Republicans to reject the sprawling 1,547-page spending package.
In the intervening 12 hours, Musk posted over 60 updates in his bid to derail the deal.
On Thursday, Democrats, angry that the deal was doomed, took every opportunity to take jabs at Trump, suggesting he’d been usurped by “President Elon Musk” and claiming the president-elect had gone AWOL while the Tesla boss was creating havoc.
As the GOP leadership in the House picked over the debris with a government shutdown looming, a desperate briefing war broke out to help Trump save face.
Two theories were put forward to explain the chain of events. Both underlined just how differently the new administration is likely to look once Trump gets back in the hot seat on Jan. 20.
One Trump source told Axios that Musk driving the debate was all part of the plan and showed how the new administration’s direct approach will work. Musk laid the groundwork and then Trump swooped in to apply the coup de grâce.
The insider said that Republican lawmakers on the Hill received “instant and overwhelming feedback. Before, it had to be slowly funneled through conservative press… [N]ow there is a megaphone.”
Another Trump source from the transition team told the site that Trump was firmly in control, saying: “There are things Elon doesn’t agree with us on that he ain’t getting.”
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy dialed in on the unity between the two men, saying: “Both men never give up, and follow through even if it seems impossible. You should never bet against Trump or Elon.”
But the “most prominent theory”, sources suggested to Politico, was that Trump initially had no great objections to the spending deal but was “backed into a corner” by Musk.
Musk’s very public opposition to the deal and the groundswell of support he received from the right meant Trump was left “flat-footed”, and he was forced to “chime in” with his Department of Government Efficiency co-chair, said the Playbook report.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Trump for comment but had not heard back by time of publication.
The biggest loser appears to be House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has to try and revive a fatally damaged deal with Trump’s insistence on a higher debt ceiling directly at odds with Democrat demands and the clock ticking towards a government shutdown for the holidays.
The biggest winner is Musk, who was doing a victory lap on Wednesday night, tweeting: “Your elected representatives have heard you and now the terrible bill is dead. The voice of the people has triumphed!”
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) went on CNN to complain about Musk’s “tweetstorm” and said: “You cannot run the world’s greatest democracy by tweet.”
But, as Donald Trump has now discovered, perhaps you can.
