When the richest man in the world aligns himself to the most powerful man in the world (the one that holds office) – both egomaniacal hotheads – it only becomes a matter of time before thing unravel.

Over the weekend, I watched with pure delight, Donald Trump and Elon Musk exchanging barbs at each other. It seemingly started when Musk called out Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) for excessive waste and being “pork” filled, and Trump firing back that Musk has “lost his mind”. Things got even more heated (and entertaining) when Musk further fractured the “bromance” with allegations that Trump was contained in the Epstein files. A tweet that has now been deleted.

There was no doubt that Elon was a big supporter of Trump. Going as far as saying “I love Trump as much as any straight man ever could” and in return Trump praising Musk for his entrepreneurial ability, and that was used and retrofitted into a special government operation DOGE (a childish backronym of a meme coin)

Musk thought with the millions he provided Trump, he’d be able to buy power and influence. Which he did for a little while. Musk provided Trump a whopping quarter billion for his election campaign.  Trump succeeded in being elected. However, once the varnish wears off, the donor money paid becomes a thing of the past. There is no requirement or urgency to keep the alliance going past the point that Trump has received what he wanted. Elon has become a 5th wheel.

Money is useful in maintaining connection and power if and only if it becomes a requirement on one of the parties. Example of building a house. A builder (with a project manager) is assigned and payments are made in installments, and to be released to sub-contractors, when key milestones are met. The payment of money in timed installments becomes the incentive to keep things going and on track. Contrast if the payment is made up front in one go, there is little incentive to meet quality checkpoints. The money has been received and the rest of the work relies on honesty, good will and integrity.

Trump has no longer any use for Musk. He became elected off the sizeable donor cash boost, he has reined in spending with DOGE via Musk. In return Elon received contracts and tax breaks – some of which are being wound back.

Trump stated that Elon was “wearing thin”. Trump needed to flip-flop on a few of his beliefs in order to appease Musk. For instance, Trump has no real interest in electric vehicles, having said in a post Christmas message on Truth Social in 2023

“All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA.”

Musk had lost credibility with the wider public and the rest of the world. Most pointedly for his apparent Nazi salute, performed twice to the crowd. This provided a screenshot moment for the world to realize that Musk was no longer an entrepreneurial tech bro wizard and was sliding slowly into fascism. What may have appeared to Musk as a cheeky school boy moment cemented his status with the public, particularly the centre-left in America and the rest of the world. And to some degree the Trump administration by association.

Tesla stock declined “bigly” (to use a Trumpism), cars vandalized and showrooms torched. Trump stepped in to become a somewhat fix-it man and pseudo used car salesmen to bring back some vigor to the ailing brand. The previous anti-electric rhetoric was wound back with “I love Tesla” and “Everything’s computer” though the messaging was hollow as was pointed out by Trump himself

“I’m for electric cars, I have to be because, you know, Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice.”

Trump is now in the process of selling his Tesla vehicle which is sitting idle in the Whitehouse car park just a few months after purchase.

An implosion of 2 egos was inevitable. Unless they can agree on everything, the tiniest of cracks eventually widens to a complete break. The BBB was the spark that lit the flame and Musk’s  impetuousness over X pretty much sealed his fate. You cannot wind it back when it’s posted on the net. He is a done in Republican politics for the forseeable future. Any attempt to switch sides to the Democrats will invoke further wrath from Trump.

Trump has got what he needs from Musk. Musk claims (probably rightly) that the election was only won due to his money. Musk has no leverage.  He chided Trump for his “ingratitude” and now realizes among other things that he got played. Money does buy power – but only temporarily.

The very essence of a quid-pro-quo transactional relationship.