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The Insider’s Track
Good morning,
We’re having what I would call a Classic Northeast Spring here in the Big Town, where it just goes from cold and rainy to HOT AND HUMID overnight. It’s around this time every year I start to question my relationship with this Tom’s of Maine “all natural” deodorant my wife buys.
When Elon Musk joined forces with Donald Trump to start this little project called DOGE, I predicted their bromance wouldn’t make it to the summer. And sure enough! Musk has had a helluva week. Last Friday, he turned up at the White House for a ceremony meant to broadcast that he and Trump were still tight, even as Musk was departing his official stint as a “special government employee.” Musk came in sporting a black eye, which he blamed on his son (lol), and spent most of the Oval appearance answering questions about his alleged drug use (the NYT had just dropped a bombshell that Musk brought a fairly serious ketamine habit with him to the White House that has started to affect his bladder. He denies it).
A couple days later, Steve Bannon told the Daily Mail that Musk got into a physical altercation with Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, after Bessent called him out for failing to deliver on his promise to cut $1 trillion in federal spending. Did Bessent give Musk that shiner? Oh, to be a fly on the wall in this White House.
About those promised spending cuts. This week the WH formally sent what’s known as a “rescissions” package to Congress, asking that lawmakers codify some $9.4 billion in budget cuts implemented by Musk’s DOGE crew. This money is mostly coming from international aid and public media (NPR & PBS). So after all that rigmarole, we went from a promise to find $2T in cuts, to $1T, to $175B, to just $9B—or roughly what the federal government will spend over the next 12 hours.
Of course, as we’ve discussed here, DOGE was never really about saving money, it was a front for an ideological purge of the federal workforce. Time will tell whether Musk did any better on that front.
Even though Elon was not technically fired, he is now clearly on the outs with Trump. Musk has been tweeting incessantly against the Big Sexy Bill over the last couple days, calling it a “disgusting abomination” of new spending. He’s not wrong there—the CBO scored the bill yesterday, concluding it will add $2.4T to the national debt over the next decade. The CBO also said the tariffs will bring in roughly the same revenue over the same time period, though that comes with a big asterisk. Does anyone really think these tariffs are going to be around in 10 years?
The WSJ is now reporting that Trump’s patience with Musk is wearing thin over the outbursts, suggesting what’s left of the relationship between these two alpha dogs is coming to its predictable end. Trump, meanwhile, tried to bury Musk in the news last night with a bunch of big executive orders, including a new travel ban, another attack on Harvard, and an investigation into Biden’s use of the autopen.
I’ve never been a complete Elon hater like so many others. He’s clearly brilliant. I wish they put him to work on issues more relevant to his expertise in manufacturing and clean energy. I think the DOGE experiment is kind of tragic, illustrating how Trump still has this bizarre ability to destroy the reputations of those who he pulls into his orbit, to say nothing of showing just how hard it is to actually cut federal spending without touching entitlements.
If I had to bet, I’d say what Musk is doing now by coming out so hard against the tax bill shows he’s trying to have it both ways. Build up a little of the street cred he lost in his turn to MAGA supplicant, without explicitly criticizing the big guy himself. It won’t work. He’s torched his credibility with Tesla’s most important customers (rich libs), but now risks becoming persona non grata among the MAGA faithful by going against the boss. Luckily he’s got a couple hundred bil to cushion the blow.
The Rundown
Map Shows Countries Impacted by Trump’s New Travel Ban
President Donald Trump issued a new proclamation on Wednesday restricting travel by foreigners from 12 countries and partially restricting entry for travelers from an additional seven countries.
“During my first Administration, I restricted the entry of foreign nationals into the United States, which successfully prevented national security threats from reaching our borders and which the Supreme Court upheld,” Trump said in his proclamation. Read more.
Also happening:
- Biden investigation: Former President Joe Biden has called the investigation into his competence to serve during his term in the White House as “nothing more than a distraction.” President Donald Trump directed the White House to probe Biden’s executive actions, including pardons and the alleged use of an autopen for signatures. Read Biden’s response.
- Iran nuclear talks: President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to join talks on Iran’s nuclear program and may help bring the negotiations to a close. Trump said that both leaders agreed that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon,” and claimed Putin suggested he could “be helpful” in reaching a quick resolution. Read more.
This is a preview of The 1600—Tap here to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox.
The post The 1600: Trump-Musk Bromance Goes Bust appeared first on Newsweek.
