“Breaking up is hard to do,” Sedaka once crooned.
He could have been singing about Donald Trump and Elon Musk. If ever there was a bromance destined to come to a bitter, acrimonious end, it was theirs.
How could it not?
Both Trump and Musk are complete narcissists. Each is convinced that the sun, the moon, the stars and all the planets orbit around him—and that whatever is in his interest is the only interest that matters.
Both also are wounded and stunted human beings who see all relationships as transactional—and that the transactions never lead to a greater common good but only to producing winners and losers. Both men have dedicated themselves to winning at all costs, not so much because they savor victory but because they fear and abhor being considered a “loser.”
They were fated to clash from the moment they came together. The moment their interests collided or just moved along different paths, Musk and Trump were bound to be at each other’s throats.
Both men see the world in binary terms. People are either with them or are against them. They feel in no way tethered by the bonds of affection or responsibility that counsel other people to show restraint in times of conflict.
That’s why they find it easy to escalate arguments into wars. It’s not enough for them to dissuade or defeat someone with whom they disagree.
No, they must destroy their opponents.
That is why their relationship moved so fast from shoulder-to-shoulder partnership to scorched-earth combat. Trump said he would cancel Musk’s billions of dollars’ worth of contracts with the federal government. Musk threatened to out Trump’s alleged forays with deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
And just like that, the onetime best buddies became savage enemies.
Predictable as this brawl might be, it’s also illuminating.
Consider, for example, Trump’s threat to strip away Musk’s federal contracts.
Such contracts are supposed to be awarded based on which person or company can best serve the nation’s interests. That’s why competitive bidding processes exist and firms doing business with the federal government must routinely submit to audits that attempt to ensure that the public interest is being served.
By saying he will cancel Musk’s contracts, Trump makes clear that he sees things in a different way. In Trump world, government contracts are not a way to protect and serve the nation. Rather, they are a way for him to reward cronies and punish opponents.
Rarely have we seen any U.S. politician—much less an American president—make so sincere an admission of corruption.
Not that Trump will suffer for it, any more than Musk’s implied promise to spill the dirt on the Epstein files will have any lasting impact on the president even if it is true.
Trump’s hold on his hardcore followers is too firm to dislodge with even the most damning admissions on his part or the sturdiest proof of wrongdoing offered by his critics. The president has created a perfect, vicious circle of unassailability.
All evidence of malfeasance on his part, regardless of how impregnable, is viewed as confirmation by his MAGA supporters that he is a persecuted man. The sheer scope of his wrongdoing shields him because his base refuses to comprehend that one man could break so many laws, shatter so many norms of decency and lay waste to so many institutional safeguards.
That is why Musk will lose this fight.
He made the fundamental miscalculation so many otherwise intelligent people have made with Trump. Musk thought because he was richer and more successful than Trump—author of multiple bankruptcies and other business failures—that he would be able to control and use the president.
He couldn’t.
Musk didn’t grasp that, while Trump may be Midas in reverse, turning gold into dross wherever he goes, he is a master at manipulating and using others. The president always leaves his erstwhile allies with the bill for his failures.
Thus, five months into this second Trump term, Musk finds himself blamed for many of the president’s stumbles and miscues. To add injury to insult, the world’s richest man also can see that his businesses have been savaged by his association with Trump, racking up massive losses.
Musk spent millions of dollars helping Trump—and doing so cost him billions.
Yes, breaking up is hard to do.
