¾ÅÒ»ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ

Who could possibly, in their wildest dreams, ever have imagined it?   

Who could possibly have foreseen that the world’s wealthiest man and the world’s most powerful politician might blow up their bromance in the most spectacular fashion? Elon on Don? Feuding? Nooooo. Say it ain’t so!   

The curious thing is the pair of them do have a few qualities in common. Hypocrisy, for starters. Having pledged many dozens of times to pay down his country’s debt, Donald Trump pushed forward legislation that will actually grow the debt by an estimated NZ$4 trillion. Having pledged to cut waste from the same government’s spending, Elon Musk heroically cut support for HIV-positive mothers while simultaneously taking billions of dollars in subsidies and contracts that benefit his own companies.   

Another common quality? The speed with which they both go nuclear. In the space of a few hours we had Trump threatening to cut SpaceX funding, Musk threatening to decommission the rocket used to get US astronauts to space, and an accusation about the Epstein files made without any evidence, which nonetheless, I thought the White House was notably less-than-emphatic in denying.   

In my view, Elon Musk has been heading for a fall for a long, long time. I think his behaviour is erratic. Whether it’s Nazi salutes or his public statements, I think he seems unbalanced. I think the reporting about his drug use is consistent with his appearance at the White House and the fact he’s in multiple custody battles with multiple women over children he’s barely spent any time with says an awful lot of awful about his character. And while, sure, at his best, he has achieved some extraordinary things, you only need to log in to X to see that one of the most productive human beings in the history of our species is these days dedicating an obscene amount of his time and energy to juvenile posts, lies and conspiracies on social media.   

Unlike Trump, Elon Musk isn’t charismatic. He isn’t funny. The more people see of him, the less they like him and his products. And despite his threats to start a third political party and take down Republicans who support the President’s bill, he doesn’t have anything like the pulling power or cult support of the President. In April, Musk poured almost NZ$50m into a single judicial election in Wisconsin and his candidate lost. If anything, Musk’s money and his support hurt the guy’s chances. 

Who knows where this feud is headed? Maybe they’ll cool off and make up in a few days. Regardless, there will only be one winner. It won’t be Elon Musk.