- Elon Musk is reportedly frustrating many within Trump’s inner circle
- The X CEO has remained at Mar-a-Lago since the night of the US presidential election
- Musk allegedly accused Boris Epshteyn of leaking Trump’s cabinet picks to the press
Elon Musk may be coming to the end of his honeymoon period at Mar-a-Lago.
The Tesla CEO, who poured millions of his fortune, countless hours of his time, and far too much of his weird inability to jump into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has been based at Trump’s resort since the night of the US election.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has become a key member of Trump’s inner circle over the last few months, but not all is well in the MAGA camp with Musk, if recent reports are to be believed.
Several Trump loyalists, who have been aligned with the president-elect since his first reign in the White House between 2017-2021, have begun to tire of Musk already, with the X CEO growing in influence as part of Trump’s inner circle.
One of whom is Boris Epshteyn, a top Trump’s advisor who reportedly pushed for the highly controversialMatt Gaetz attorney general nomination. The pair are believed to have had a “massive blowup” and a “huge explosion” across the dinner table, in front of guests, at Mar-a-Lago last Wednesday, three people familiar with the situation told Axios.
Musk reportedly accused Epshteyn of leaking cabinet picks to the press, as well as other details of Trump’s transition back to power. Epshteyn allegedly responded by telling Musk he didn’t know what he was talking about.
Epshteyn – a Russian-American political strategist – is believed to be behind the appointments of Gaetz as attorney general and William McGinley as White House counsel. Musk, on the other hand, is pushing hard for Trump transition co-chair William Lutnick to be chosen for Treasury secretary instead of Scott Bessent, a fund manager and Wall Street favorite, who met with Trump in Florida last Friday (November 15), according to the Wall Street Journal.
Musk, however, dismissed Bessent publicly by calling him a “business-as-usual choice” in an X post, before adding, “Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt.”
The SpaceX founder has proven popular with Trump’s family, with the incoming president’s granddaughter Kai even posting on X that the billionaire had achieved “uncle status” .
Axios has also reported that senior Trump staffers have seen tension bubbling between Musk and Epshteyn in transition meetings, with a recent NBC report also stating that some Trump loyalists feel Musk is overstepping his bounds.
Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate, is set to work with the X CEO as co-leaders of a non-governmental ‘Department of Government Efficiency’, which aims to cut a monumental $2 trillion in federal spending.
