Why the Elon Musk-Donald Trump Bromance Might Be On a Collision Course
Inside the Hive
Vanity Fair
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2024
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There was a time, not long ago, in which most people might have scoffed at the idea that Elon Musk, an entrepreneur with aspirations to save the world from climate change, would become a right-wing folk hero. And yet, that's precisely the transformation he underwent this year. The billionaire CEO of Tesla—now known for his ardent support of Donald Trump and his endless philippics against the “woke mind virus”—has become a major power player in the MAGAverse, and is set to head up a new initiative in Trump’s second administration, so called the "Department of Government Efficiency." In the latest episode of Inside the Hive, VF special correspondent Nick Bilton and New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger unpack what brought Musk into the MAGAverse, how he plans to gut the regulatory state under Trump, and why the duo’s ego-fueled bromance may be destined to blow up. “I think we are on a collision course of personalities with these two,” Conger predicts. “[Musk is] going to want complete control...and I don't think Trump is going to be willing to give him that."
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Radica Jones, editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair. |
| 0:05.3 | If you love digging into the week's political headlines, subscribe to Vanity Fair. |
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| 0:39.0 | So in the past few days, Elon Musk has been described as Donald Trump's new best buddy, |
| 0:44.4 | as a shadow president, as a near constant presence at Mar-a-Lago. |
| 0:49.2 | One of Trump's grandkids even called him Uncle Elon. |
| 0:52.6 | So, Nick, how are you thinking about his role? What's the |
| 0:55.5 | best title for Elon Musk right now? You know, the universe scientists estimate it's 23 billion |
| 1:01.6 | light years wide. It is this thing that we can't even get our heads around. And I think that Elon Musk |
| 1:07.0 | is the most powerful person in it right now. In the entire known universe. |
| 1:10.9 | In the entire known universe. |
| 1:12.6 | There is no one more powerful. |
| 1:14.7 | Even more so than Donald Trump, I think. |
| 1:17.7 | All right, that's Nick Bilton, special to respondent for Vanity Fair. |
| 1:21.2 | And I'm Brian Stelter. |
| 1:23.0 | Yes, welcome to Inside the Hive from Vanity Fair. |
| 1:26.3 | And this week, we are going inside that alliance between |
| 1:29.4 | Musk and President-elect Trump. Few would have predicted this relationship a number of years ago. |
| 1:35.5 | We've talked about Musk before on this show. We've talked about his takeover of the website, |
| 1:39.3 | formerly known as Twitter. We've talked about the ups and downs of his businesses like Tesla. And now everybody |
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