Jack Tame: Trump and Musk's alliance is imploding in the most spectacular fashion

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.   

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at be Who.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Could possibly, in their wildest dreams ever have imagined it?
Who could possibly have foreseen that the world's wealthiest man
in the world's most powerful politician might blow up their
bromance in the most spectacular fashion, Elon and Don feuding. No, no,

(00:33):
say it ain't so. The curious thing is the pair
of them. Donald Trump and Elon Musk do actually have
a few qualities in common. Hypocrisy for starters. I mean,
think about it. Having pledged many dozens of times to
pay down his country's debt, Donald Trump is pushing forward

(00:54):
legislation that will actually grow the debt by an estimated
four trillion New Zealand dollars. Four trillion dollars. That sounds
made up. Just think about it for a moment, right, So,
so a billion is one thousand millions and a trillion
is one thousand billions. That's four thousand, thousand million dollars.

(01:19):
And then, having pledged to cut waste from the same
government's spending, Elon Musk, of course, heroically cut support for
HIV positive mothers in the developing world, while simultaneously taking
billions of dollars in subsidies and contracts that, what do
you know, benefit his own companies. Another common quality between

(01:39):
the two of them well, the speed of which they
both go nuclear. I mean, in the space of a
few hours, we've had Donald Trump threatening to cut SpaceX funding,
We've had Elon Musk threatening to decommission the rocket used
to get US astronauts to and from space, and an
accusation about the Epstein files made without any evidence, which,

(02:00):
nonetheless I thought the White House was notably less than
emphatic in denying. In my Elon Musk has been headed
for a big fall for a long long time. I
think his behaviors erratic, whether it's the Nazi salutes or
his public statements. I think he seems unbalanced, and that's

(02:23):
a generous term. I think the reporting about his drug
use is at the very least kind of consistent with
his appearance at the White House and the fact that
he's in multiple custody battles with multiple women over children,
that he's barely spent any time with ever, I think
says an awful lot of awful about his character. And

(02:44):
while sure, at his best he has achieved some extraordinary things. I,
for one, used to be a big fan. You only
need to log into 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 to juvenile posts, lies, and conspiracy theories on social media.

(03:09):
Unlike Donald Trump, Elon Musk isn't charismatic, He isn't funny.
The more people see of him, the less they seem
to like him and his products. And despite his threats
to start a third political party and take down Republicans
who support the president and the President's bill, he doesn't
have anything like the pulling power or the kind of

(03:32):
you know, the cult support that Donald Trump enjoys. In April,
Elon Musk poured almost fifty million New Zealand dollars into
a single judicial election in Wisconsin and his candidate lost.
This wasn't like the federal elections. This wasn't a presidential race.
This was a single judicial election and his candidate lost.

(03:53):
If anything, Elon Musk's money and his support hurt the
guy's chances. So look, who knows where this feud is headed.
Maybe they will cool off and make up in a
few days time. Regardless, though as far as I'm concerned,
there will only be one winner, and it won't be
Elon Musk.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks ed B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio