Elon Musk and President Donald Trump are at each other’s throats now because they are the only combatants left in the ring after triumphing against the “opposition” in Washington, says Musk’s father, Errol.
Musk snr told the Sunday Times yesterday that the five months since Trump took office had been “hell” for both men — whose close relationship came apart spectacularly in recent days — and they were now suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“A marriage is a very good example [of what has happened] because there’s a lot of stress, people react irrationally, and ... they seek a divorce when it’s actually the last thing they should be doing,” Errol Musk said.
“They’ve been through a very harsh time, like they’ve just been five months in the Vietnam War or something like that, or Russia’s defence against the Germans in World War 2. They came right on so many levels but the stress is still stuck within their bodies ... They have to calm down now and realise they’ve done away with the opposition, they don’t have to worry any more.”
He said both his son and Trump had PTSD. “If they didn’t by now, they would be supermen. They wouldn’t be human.”
One of the first signs of the falling out was Elon Musk’s description of Trump’s signature tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”. He added fuel to the fire by saying on X that the president was named in the “Epstein files”, a reference to the sexual exploitation of minors by US financier Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Trump has responded by saying the Pretoria-born founder of Tesla and SpaceX — who spent heavily to support Trump’s campaign for president — had lost his mind. He rejected an apparent overture from Musk that they should have a conversation to discuss their differences.
Elon is concerned the opposition is going to recover with Trump’s bill. There are many things in it ... that are to placate Democrats, to get their vote. And unfortunately Elon, on principle, says that’s not what we should be doing. But if you don’t do that you won’t get their votes.
Errol Musk said his son, who recently stepped down as head of the US department of government efficiency, was worried that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would destroy much of the progress that had been made in cutting waste in the US government.
“Elon is concerned the opposition is going to recover with Trump’s bill. There are many things in it ... that are to placate Democrats, to get their vote. And unfortunately Elon, on principle, says that’s not what we should be doing. But if you don’t do that you won’t get their votes.
“It happens in the political world, it’s a world of give and take, you don’t get to the top ... by just getting your own way ... and Elon hasn’t got that experience yet. If he were in Trump’s shoes, he would understand right away.”
Musk snr said he hoped the falling out was “a storm in a teacup” and there would be a rapprochement.
“They’ve both been under tremendous stress. They’ve cleared the field of all opposition and the arena is left with only the two of them; at the moment they’re still in the ‘clear the opposition’ mode. It’s hard to change the mode you’re in.
“They’re tired, Elon is very, very tired. He runs companies that are asking for his advice and so on.”
Many investors in Tesla, whose share price has plunged since Musk joined forces with Trump in January, had been urging the CEO to spend less time on government business and devote more attention to the EV maker.
Musk snr said Trump was wrong to now refuse to have a discussion with his son.
“Trump said he’s not interested in talking to him, which makes [it look like] Elon’s possibly right. He should be saying to Elon, ‘Yeah, come back, let’s have a chat and see what it is that’s worrying you’.
“That’s not how you deal with people in your group that are unhappy. The sooner they get over it and Trump says to Elon, ‘Right, let’s talk about what you’re unhappy about, let’s see what we can do about it,' that would be the best.”
Musk snr said Elon’s accusation about the Epstein files was “rubbish”.
“I don’t know where that came from. It’s what people do when they’re under stress; he may have just lashed out and said, ‘Well what about that?’
“People do react irrationally when they feel they’ve been, you know in a marriage or something, been ignored. That’s what we’ve got here.”
Errol Musk said the relationship had to be mended. “They must patch it up. This [partnership] has been a miracle of modern politics. It’s given a chance to the world a chance to heal and come right.”
Musk, who lives in Langebaan, was speaking from Moscow. He said it was not a holiday trip, but did not elaborate. He said he had not spoken with Elon in recent days, but had sent him a couple of messages about the bust-up.
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