Brandon Bell/Pool via AP
President-elect Donald Trump has shown growing signs of frustration with Elon Musk, his wealthiest and most vocal adviser, sources tell Mediaite.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has been deeply involved in the White House transition after backing Trump in the 2024 election with $150 million and relentless support on X, the social media platform he owns.
Sources close to the transition, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal internal conversations, said Trump is growing weary of Musk’s omnipresence – as well as the media attention his antics are garnering.
“100 percent Trump is annoyed,” said one Trump insider who worked on the 2024 campaign. “There’s a Chinese saying: ‘two tigers cannot live on one mountaintop.’”
Last week, a civil war broke out between two factions of Trump’s movement after Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy expressed their support for foreign worker visas – sparking outrage from prominent MAGA voices and immigration hardliners like Steve Bannon. Several Trump supporters, including conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, claimed Musk stripped them of their verification badges on X in retaliation for their criticism of him.
In an expletive-laced X post on Saturday, Musk responded to the backlash: “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
Bannon fired back, calling Musk a “toddler.”
Within the transition, the civil war that erupted online last week sparked a reminder of the importance of discretion. On Sunday, Susie Wiles, Trump’s pick for White House chief of staff, sent a transition-wide memo on social media use.
In the memo, Wiles forbade members of the incoming administration and transition from making any comments on social media without prior approval from the incoming White House counsel.
Despite his involvement in the transition, Musk does not have a formal role in the incoming administration. Alongside Ramaswamy, he will be overseeing a non-governmental agency tasked with slashing government spending.
Chatter that Musk is serving as shadow president of the incoming Trump administration has percolated so much in the last few weeks that Trump addressed the idea at an event earlier this month.
“He’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” Trump said of Musk. “You know why he can’t be [president]? He wasn’t born in this country.”
“There was likely an allure to it in the beginning but it seemed like it could go ugly,” another Trump insider said of the alliance between the president-elect and Musk. “Trump is Trump. I think it’s just the way Trump is. Someone that is around that much and having influence would be a bother.”
“I mean the guy came in, gave a boatload of money, and wants to take over the place,” the insider said, adding they don’t think Musk has “bad intentions,” but “you also can’t just inject a shadow president somewhere.”
The Trump insider who worked on the 2024 campaign downplayed Musk’s influence.
“The media is portraying him as a co-president,” they said. “Musk is a character actor. There is only one executive producer, one lead in this TV show, and that is Trump. Elon will have his role, his focuses, but he is meant to disrupt the status quo in Washington and Trump is weaponizing him.”
“The only one to move the MAGA movement is Trump,” they added. “Elon will be able to amplify the message.”
The source warned that Musk’s enormous wealth and influence will not protect him from being dumped by Trump if the president-elect’s frustrations persist.
“Unless you’re family, you’re not family,” they said.
