Recently, a heavyweight quarrel outside the White House has brought the US government into the spotlight again. Musk, the head of the Government Efficiency Department, and Bessant, the US Treasury Secretary, cursed at each other because of their different political views, and almost broke out into a physical conflict. In the end, Trump adopted Bessants appointment proposal, which made the outside world wonder whether there was a crack in the relationship between Trump and Musk. Behind this conflict, it is not only a power clash between Silicon Valley and Washington, but also reveals the complex game between Trump and Musk from close comrades-in-arms to power checks and balances.
Looking back at the beginning of the year, the biggest political reform that Trump used Musk to carry out was to jointly establish the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which promoted radical reforms in the name of streamlining government. Its core goals are mainly to cut government spending, digitally transform the bureaucracy, and replace human decision-making with algorithms. The core team consists of 6 technical elites aged 19-25. Since Trump took office on January 20, DOGE has begun a vigorous elimination, from shutting down the United States Agency for International Development, to drastically reducing the number of federal government employees, to obtaining taxpayer privacy information to improve fiscal efficiency. With Trumps instruction and support, Musk has withstood the pressure and cut through the thorns all the way, setting off a radical reform storm in the United States.
Related reading: Musk terminated hundreds of contracts in 18 days and brought 6 post-00s to revolutionize the United States Cut hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts again. What weird government departments has Musks DOGE discovered?
According to data from DOGEs official website, as of April 20, 2025, DOGE has saved a total of approximately $160 billion, saving each taxpayer an average of approximately $993.79. The savings cover a variety of areas:
Contract Terminations: 8,454 contracts terminated, saving approximately $30 billion. For example, the termination of Risk Management Agencys lease in Topeka, Kansas, with an annual rent of $121,800, is expected to save approximately $964,000 over multiple years.
Grant cancellations: 9,699 grants were terminated, saving approximately $33 billion. For example, the termination of USAID’s grant to the Global Vaccine Alliance Foundation saved a total of $1.75 billion.
Lease Terminations: 643 lease terminations, saving approximately $300 million.
However, NPR Analysis pointed out that some contract terminations did not bring actual savings. For example, 794 contract cancellations were expected to have no savings because the funds were fully committed. In addition, DOGE used the potential maximum value of the contract rather than the actual expenditure when calculating savings, which caused controversy.
Honeymoon period: political allies two-way rush
Musk and Trump began to interact frequently before the 2024 US presidential election. At that time, Musk invested $259 million, mobilized all Silicon Valley resources, and with the endorsement of his personal influence, became an important boost for Trump to return to the White House. After Trump came to power, as his angel investor, Musk will naturally gain unprecedented political status and power.
On February 7, Musk publicly expressed his support for Trump on social media. He said that his love for Trump is the greatest love a straight man can give to another man.
On March 4, when Musk attended Trumps joint speech to Congress, the tie he wore was lent to him by Trump.
As Musk fired federal employees from government agencies en masse, a wave of vandalism of Tesla vehicles, intimidation of owners, and protests against dealerships has swept across the country. Tesla factories have been met with peaceful demonstrations and vandalism, including charging station fires. Cybertruck vandalism has also surged across the United States, with some owners even graffitiing their Tesla cars in protest of Musk.
Reports of vandalism of Tesla cars and dealerships and protests suggest opposition to Musk has reached a boiling point. When peoples cars are at risk of being scratched or burned, even people who support Musk or are indifferent to him may think twice about buying a Tesla, Baird analyst Ben Callow said on CNBCs Squawk Box.
Musk has also repeatedly said that he is having a very difficult time running his business, with Teslas stock price experiencing its worst drop in five years and his social media company X experiencing multiple outages.
However, such a swift and vigorous reform will inevitably harm the interests of a considerable number of people. From the first day Musk entered politics, he has been hearing voices of opposition. Teslas stock has plummeted since Musk took office, with its market value almost halved, experiencing the worst decline in five years. This has caused Musks personal assets to evaporate by about $121 billion since the beginning of the year.
As Musks biggest political background and ally, Trump must stand up for him when Musk is attacked by the crowd.
On the afternoon of March 11th local time in the United States, Trump held a 30-minute press conference in the driveway of the White House. This press conference was more like a large-scale Tesla auto show. Accompanied by Musk, Trump answered questions about the US stock market, Canadian tariffs and the Russia-Ukraine war, while test-driving five different types and colors of Tesla cars.
Thats the one I like, Trump said, pointing to a bright red Model S that costs about $80,000. In the end, Trump chose the Model S and said he would write a check for $80,000 to buy the car in full. Trump also accused the Tesla boycotters of hurting a great American company and claimed that if the boycotters continued to treat Tesla like this, he would find these people and curse them to hell. White House spokesman Harrison Fields also said: The continued heinous violence against Tesla by radical leftists is tantamount to domestic terrorism.
With Trumps endorsement, Teslas stock price rebounded during trading on Tuesday, closing up 3.79%.
To show his loyalty, on March 24, at Trump’s third cabinet meeting, Musk wore a red hat with the words Trump is always right written on it.
During this period, the two were close comrades who were committed to promoting reform. Trump needed a sharp blade to expand his territory, and Musk needed a platform to realize his political ambitions. The two were highly consistent in their goals and interests.
The cracks are beginning to emerge: policy differences and interest games
Since Trump announced the high tariff policy, Trumps political goals have conflicted with Musks personal interests, and the relationship between the two has also been strained. The high tariffs caused the US stock market to plummet in a short period of time, and Musks assets have shrunk by more than $100 billion from the beginning of the year to now. Musk, who was born as an entrepreneur, looks at issues from the perspective of economic benefits rather than politics. He supports lowering barriers and free trade. He has also publicly expressed his opposition to tariff policies many times.
On April 5, Musk said in a video interview with Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini at the Italian League Congress in Florence: Ultimately, I hope that Europe and the United States can reach an agreement, and in my opinion, ideally it should go to zero tariffs, effectively creating a free trade area between Europe and North America. On April 7, Musk shared a video on Twitter in which the late free market economist Milton Friedman discussed the benefits of free trade. Musk did not attach any text, but the move was widely interpreted as a criticism of Trumps tariff policy.
Musks brother, Kimbal Musk, also criticized Trumps tariff policy on Twitter, pointing out that taxing consumption means less consumption, which means fewer jobs, which in turn leads to less consumption and even fewer jobs. He believes that the tax is a structural, permanent tax on American consumers.
Musk has also made many criticisms and sarcastic remarks, especially against trade adviser Peter Navarro. On April 8, he responded to a post quoting an interview with Navarro, in which Navarro called Tesla more of an assembler than a manufacturer and criticized its parts from China, Japan and Taiwan. Musk directly opened the microphone and angrily said: Navarro is such an idiot, what he said here is obviously false, and then attached a community note to prove that Tesla Model Y is the most American-made car. It seems that the response is not enough, and Musk further called Navarro dumber than a bag of bricks in another post.
The conflict is heating up: Bessant and Musk engage in a fierce war of words
The conflicting attitudes between the two on the issue of tariffs gradually fermented in the complex power struggle.
On April 23rd, local time, according to sources, on April 17th, Musk and Treasury Secretary Bessant had a fierce conflict at a meeting in the West Wing of the White House. Bessant lost control of his emotions and swore, and Musk provocatively responded, Louder. The two sides even escalated to personal attacks. Bessant angrily accused Musk of exaggerating the DOGE budget cuts and making no progress; Musk also directly responded that Bessant was a Soros puppet and mocked him for having failed miserably in managing hedge funds. The quarrel alarmed Trump and the visiting Italian Prime Minister Meroni, and finally the assistant intervened to separate the two.
The direct cause of the conflict was the dispute over the director of the IRS. Musk, as the head of the U.S. governments efficiency department, directly proposed to appoint Gary Shapley as the acting director of the IRS without the consent of Treasury Secretary Bessant. Because the IRS should report to the Treasury Department, Bessant believed that this move violated his authority and lobbied Trump to revoke the appointment and support his deputy, Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Falkend, as the director of the IRS.
The result of this struggle seems to be that Bessant won. Trump finally supported Bessants proposal, revoked Shapley nominated by Musk, and appointed Falken as the acting director of the IRS.
The two senior US officials were so angry that they cursed at each other in front of the White House without caring about their image. In fact, it was because of the long-standing bad relationship between the two. As early as when Trump first took office, Musk lobbied for Howard Lutnick to be nominated as Treasury Secretary, but Trump eventually chose Bessant and appointed Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department. Perhaps from the beginning, Trump had planned to restrain his subordinates from each other, and would get close to the party that had more consistent ideas with him, which also laid the fuse for future conflicts.
The conflict between the two is essentially a power struggle and game between the two factions within the Trump administration. The reformists represented by Musk are trying to shape a new pattern through the new policy, while the traditionalists represented by Bessant are resisting his approach that harms their own interests. Trumps handling of this incident is also seen as a sign that Musks voice in the government has been weakened.
It is worth mentioning that, in terms of tariff policy, unlike Musk’s clear opposition, Bessant publicly supported the tariff policy, believing that it was necessary for the United States to implement new tariffs, and refuted the view that new tariffs would lead to a recession in the U.S. Perhaps the consistency of policy tendencies is also the reason why Trump gradually leaned towards Bessant and alienated Musk. After all, for Trump, who was born as a businessman, there are only eternal interests but no eternal friends.
Musks role is limited to the 130-day service period for special government employees, which starts on January 20, 2025, Trumps inauguration day, and is expected to expire at the end of May. At the end of February, someone inside the White House anonymously revealed that Musk would stay, but on March 31, Trump himself publicly acknowledged that Musks business responsibilities took priority and did not express his determination to retain him. Perhaps with the completion of DOGEs mission, Musks 130-day term as a government employee will enter the countdown. Trump will gradually fade Musk out of the power center and turn to new allies who are more in line with his own interests at this stage. Looking back, it seems a bit regrettable that the good bows are hidden after the birds have flown away.
Musk, the worlds richest man, experienced the thrill of technology reforming the workplace in the political center of the United States. He ignited a prairie fire for Trumps new office, touched the interests of countless people, and reformed the behemoth of the US government at an incredible speed. It left behind not only the controversial prototype of algorithmic governance, but also exposed the deep contradictions of capital and power entangled in American politics. This radical experiment of technology transforming politics seems to be coming to an end. When Musk really leaves, the red hat with Trump is right about everything may become the most dramatic footnote of this short-lived political marriage.
