Elon Musk appears to be going out of his way to give MAGA digs to prominent figures, but experts suggest this could be good for the movement in the long run as the tech billionaire seeks to influence the president. Donald TrumpP Chapter Two.
Newsweek Contact the White House and X, the social media platform owned by Musk, formerly known as twitterTo comment via email.
There have been concerns about the extent of Musk’s influence on Trump and within the administration. He appears to have played a major role in pro-Trump Vivek Ramaswamy Move away from shared government efficiency management To Politico.
But any fallout between Musk and MAGA figures risks straining his relationship with the president.
“Elon Musk is, by nature, a contradiction,” said political strategist Denny Salas Newsweek. “It will oppose a person’s position to force them to make a convincing case for their position. Will you stumble over the ethics of MAGA? Sure, but it will ensure that President Trump receives the best information. “
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“Trump expects competing votes”
This has never been more evident than with Trump Side with musk On H1-B visa discussion.
In late December, Musk expressed support for H-1B visas, which allow skilled foreign workers to work for Musk in the United States, whose companies have benefited from the H-1B visa program, She faced criticism from MAGA figuresincluding Bannon and a far-right activist Laura Loomerknown for her strong views on immigration.
In a post on
“The reason I’m in America is alongside a lot of critical people who built SpaceXfor Tesla And the hundreds of other companies that made America strong because of H1B… I will go to war on this issue that you cannot understand,” Musk responded to critics.
Trump was finally telling New York Post In late December, he “always loved” H1-B visas.
“President Donald Trump expects competing voices in his administration to get the best results possible,” Salas said.
Loomer has since accused Musk of “egregious retaliatory censorship,” saying he censored her account x.
“I represent a lot of people in MAGA and break a lot of important stories,” she wrote on January 22 on the X. and Shadow Banning account.
“Out of control”
But Loomer’s feud with Musk isn’t what raised the most eyebrows within the Maga movement this week. His criticism of Trump’s support for Artificial intelligence investment worth millions of dollars an act.
Musk drew the wrath of a historical MAGA figure Steve Bannon After criticizing a joint project worth $500 billion between… OpenaiOracle and SoftBank to improve artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States, which was announced, not to mention Trump, on Wednesday.
Writing on X, Musk said the companies lack the funds to complete such a project, saying “SoftBank has less than $10 billion.”
In an interview, Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, criticized Musk for publicly opposing Trump’s AI initiative.
“I’ve never seen an action like this in my life,” he told Politico. “I’ve never seen someone on another side of government caught by the president himself openly criticizing him.”
Bannon also told reporters on Wednesday Musk was ‘out of control’ To speak out against the president.
“I think someone who is a friend of Elon Musk needs an intervention because I think he has become Icarus,” Conservative Radio host Erik Erikson said in a broadcast on Wednesday. “Icarus flew too high and too close to the sun, and the wax started to melt, and the feathers started to fall off, and he fell to the ground and died. Donald Trump doesn’t like people to be more exposed to him, and [Musk’s] Head this way. He needs to be careful – if he wants to have a real impact, he needs to stay behind the scenes and not in the spotlight.”
“Calculating, but not diabolical”
to republican Communications specialist TJ McCormack, this poses the regular ebb and flow of power struggles at the top, especially with someone as disruptive as Musk leading the government’s efficiency division.
“Will there be skirmishes along the way? Sure, but such is life among generals. During World War II, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and MacArthur all rose to fame within their ranks, with one or two temporarily sidelined by their boss, Eisenhower. In the end, though From all of that, the Allies won big.” McCormack said Newsweek.
“while Elon Musk He added that while it is certainly a polite creature, it is not brutal. He’s calculating, but he’s not diabolical. Musk won’t destroy his market, which, at his level, is the entire damn planet — if not the universe. Musk infuses the aspirational positivity that characterizes MAGA.”
