What Happens When Donald Trump Gets Tired of Elon Musk?

Donald Trump has found a new best friend and benefactor in the world’s richest man.

Elon Musk, the leader of Space X, Tesla and X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has gone all in for the former president, pouring tens of millions of his own dollars into donations to pro-Trump super PACs, merrily jumping around the stage behind Trump during campaign rallies and turning X into a conservative megaphone for the MAGA crowd.

Musk’s frenzied support for the Republican ticket has even led Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz to speculate that the tech billionaire is Trump’s real “running mate.”

As one of the last to speak before Trump on Sunday night, Musk was given a highly coveted slot in the lineup at Madison Square Garden. He also had the privilege to introduce former First Lady Melania Trump, who made a rare appearance on the campaign trail for her husband in deep-blue Manhattan.

Dressed in all black, Musk unveiled a new “dark gothic MAGA” look on stage, telling Trump’s supporters: “Make the margin of victory so big that you know what can’t happen,” in reference to supposed voter fraud concerns.

If Trump returns to the White House, many are expecting Musk to join him in some capacity. Progressives fear he could be a “shadow president,” while Trump has publicly floated the idea of making Musk the head of a new “government efficiency commission” that would presumably tackle inefficiencies and waste within the federal bureaucracy.

But whether Musk would last in a Trump administration, however, remains to be seen. Some, like former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, warn that there’s only one person Trump’s prepared to stick by.

“Donald Trump is loyal to one person and one person only…himself,” Cohen told Newsweek.

‘Donald will cut him off’

In Trump world, loyalty is the golden rule. Those who show unwavering support for the former president remain in his circle of trust. Those who teeter or disagree get iced out.

“To stay in [his circle] requires a sole loyalty even if sometimes that loyalty is a one-way street running from the friend to Trump,” Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, told Newsweek.

No one knows that better than Cohen himself. The former fixer, who once said he would take a bullet for Trump, is the most well-known friend-turned-foe in Trump world. He joined the Trump Organization in 2007 and quickly earned a reputation as Trump’s personal “pitbull.”

But the once-close relationship unravelled much faster than Cohen’s ascent. In 2018, Cohen was implicated in investigations involving Trumps’ personal and business dealings and was quickly replaced by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Despite calling Cohen a “good person” who Trump “always liked,” the former president confirmed Cohen was no longer his lawyer.

Then, when Cohen “flipped” and cooperated with federal investigators, Trump blasted him as a “liar” and “weak person.”

That type of fall from grace could be waiting for Musk too, Cohen told Newsweek.

“The moment Elon steps an inch out of Trump’s line, despite all he might have done for him, Donald will cut him off, disparage and denigrate him. Elon is no different than me or anyone else similarly situated,” Cohen said. “It’s just a matter of when.”

Cohen, of course, wasn’t the only once-loyal soldier to be kicked out of Trump’s orbit and attacked as stupid or worse.

Anthony Scaramucci was hired and fired as press secretary in 10 days, ostensibly over disparaging comments he made about other Trump officials. As Scaramucci became more critical of Trump after he left office, the former president called him “a highly unstable ‘nut job'” who “wheedled his way into my campaign.”

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the swaggering CEO of oil giant ExxonMobil, was dismissed after he clashed with his boss on matters of foreign policy. Despite once touting Tillerson as “one of the truly great business leaders of the world,” Trump called him “dumb as a rock” after their relationship frayed.

To add insult to injury, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly — before he was unceremoniously fired himself — told reporters that Tillerson was on the toilet when he learned he was being let go.

Trump has also disparaged his former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former Secretaries of Defense James Mattis and Mark Esper, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former campaign ally and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, as well as Kelly.

The list of friendship breakups goes on.

‘Monopoly on America’s attention’

So, what would Musk have to do in order to remain a fixture in a Trump White House?

“Trump has always admired strong men,” Dan McAdams, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, told Newsweek.

“He respects, and is in awe of, brute-force masculine power. He sees these men as nearly his equal.”

But it’s a slippery slope. Trump is an “alpha” figure who leads with dominance, while Musk operates his companies in a similar way — with the added benefit of a personal fortune orders of magnitude larger than Trump’s.

“Two alphas can probably get along well enough as long as they don’t interfere with each other’s respective domain,” McAdams said.

“The big thing that might come between them would be if Musk threatens Trump’s monopoly on American attention. Trump needs to be the center of everybody’s consciousness – and he has pretty much succeeded in accomplishing that extraordinary feat over the past 8 years.”

McAdams added that Musk would need to tread carefully by not “taking focus away” or otherwise overshadowing his potential new boss.

“Musk is certainly a narcissist but his self-worth is caught up in what he achieves. He really cares about building electric cars, sending people into space, and so on,” he said.

“Trump does not care about anything except himself. His entire self worth depends on others adoring him, and fearing him.”