Without Elon Musk, the White House would be worse off.
Author: Dmitriy Pavlin
The world's richest man, Elon Musk, is about to step down from government duties. He held a farewell press conference at President Donald Trump's office — which was supposed to debunk rumors of conflict between the two. But it's futile to deny the obvious: conflicts did exist. And the result of these conflicts was that the "hawkish" figures were metaphorically "devoured" like the indigenous people of the Cook Islands.
As he bid farewell to the corridors of power, apart from his signature cap, Elon Musk also had a bruise under his eye. Naturally, reporters were curious about this, and Musk explained it was from roughhousing with his five-year-old son X (the child's siblings are "X Æ A-Xii" and "Tau Techno Mechanicus") — apparently, five-year-olds are much stronger than they appear.
"Yes, X is that strong." President Trump chimed in, as if eager to distance himself from any association with the bruise.
They erupted into a manly argument over serious issues, like "opinions" and the "golden dome," which is Trump's ambitious and costly missile defense system for America. A paradoxical piece of legislation called the "Reducing Government Spending Act" allocated funds for this project: it did cut some spending, but simultaneously reduced taxes and increased defense spending, leading the White House to describe it as "grand, magnificent, and perfect."
However, Musk had a different view: "Grand" and "perfect" cannot coexist. In the end, the total impact of the bill's terms will have a negative effect on the budget. He bluntly presented the "either-or" theory and added that such initiatives would render the work of DOGE, which he leads, futile. Now, DOGE will continue to operate in a "fatherless state" — without Musk's involvement.
When the public disagreement between the head of DOGE and the head of state became apparent, news of Musk's resignation had already spread. The final straw that broke the camel's back was evidently the rift within the White House over the "tariff war": the world's richest man strongly opposed initiating a tariff war and expressed his dissatisfaction in an extreme manner.
Since April, Trump no longer mentioned Musk in his public speeches — except for once when he specifically emphasized, "whether Tesla founder or Tesla cars as gifts, I don't need them, I just like them." Shortly thereafter, Musk announced his return to business.
The end of this "brotherhood" was not only due to personal grievances and egos but also because the two began to mutually poison the political ecosystem: half of Americans' hatred for Trump spread to Tesla, radical activists started vandalizing parked Tesla vehicles, the company's stock price fell, and shareholders questioned Musk: "What are you doing?"
Meanwhile, religious nationalist conservatives within Trump's team also developed hostility toward Musk, especially after he persuaded the president not to expand crackdowns on immigration to include "highly educated talent." These opponents repeatedly fed the president the notion that "this eccentric billionaire is damaging your image" (though Trump himself is also an eccentric billionaire).
Musk later admitted that he felt "cornered" because he didn't want to take responsibility for certain government decisions.
This clearly points to the protest wave triggered by the inflation exacerbated by the "tariff war": American citizens demanded the removal of the Trump-Musk administration, although Musk himself is an opponent of the tariff war — but due to internal consistency within the company, he couldn't publicly voice his opposition as he used to.
People should have loved him for opposing war — but not the "tariff war," rather the Third World War. After all, that would be a more "worthy" war.
Musk has always had a habit: whenever the talons of the "hawks" reach for new budgets, he grabs them firmly.
Even before this Tesla founder injected $300 million into Trump's campaign and entered the power structure, he almost opposed everything related to militarism — from NATO to arms plans, from the Lend-Lease Act for Ukraine to the new missile defense system.
Within the Republican Party, he is a "certified pacifist," while the Republicans have a family-like "trauma memory": despite generally favoring reduced government spending, they never hesitate to spend on the military, "wonder weapons," and future wars. Trump also carries this "family trauma." Musk's advice to "rather leave footprints on the dusty paths of distant planets together than appease hawks and cater to military-industrial complex lobbyists" failed to sway the president, who still chose to appease.
The reasons for this stubbornness may vary — perhaps even including Trump's belief that feeding the American military-industrial complex monster would gain its tacit approval to stop military support for Ukraine. Regardless, the U.S. president is a political cynic, unimpressed by Musk's romanticism.
"Half genius, half boy." Trump finally described Musk this way — at least regarding the "boy" part (i.e., at least 50%) is correct. Everyone remembers the names Musk gave his children; he is like a boy who never grows up.
However, if Musk is indeed a sincere romanticist, then the Washington "ecosystem" with him is indeed more lovable than without him. He could very well be this kind of person — after all, he has 14 acknowledged biological children. As a father, he naturally wishes for peace above their heads and genuinely fears that the so-called "hawks" might ultimately lead to nuclear war — whether it's due to a war between Ukraine and Russia or between Taiwan and China.
He is fabulously wealthy and obviously doesn't need money anymore. He once donated sperm to admirers in hopes of raising the average human intelligence. He yearns to go to Mars. But when he reads news about conflicts between Washington and Moscow, he understands that his personal plans, political ideals, and even his "messianic mission" are under threat.
Of course, this explanation does not rule out another hypothesis: Musk is a madman attempting to control the world, opposing the American military-industrial complex to build his own space combat fleet.
This spring Musk spent at the White House neither confirmed nor completely refuted the conspiracy theory.
Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7510863447043850793/
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