If you’ve seen any photos of Elon Musk lately, chances are, you’ll see him right at President Donald Trump’s side — so much so that it seems like he might as well be the vice president. While Musk stands by Trump’s side, Vice President JD Vance seems to be getting pushed more out of the picture by the day.
Just days after winning reelection in November 2024, Trump named Musk the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has been conducting mass firings of government employees with the goal of cutting government spending. However, Musk has received over $38 billion from the government over the past 20 or so years via aid, funding and government orders for his companies — so who is he to talk?
The cuts are not as effective as DOGE claims them to be — they keep putting out data full of errors that make the department look more successful than it really is.
These mass firings are gutting several government departments, including the Department of Education — announcing a 50% workforce cut in a March 14 statement — and the National Park Service, which cut 1,000 employees in February. Education and environmental protections are already critically underfunded, and tearing away resources will make the departments more vulnerable — in the end, become for-profit entities. Additionally, cuts to the Department of Education will ensure the government is no longer held accountable to supply equal education for all, which will cause disparities in the quality of education and content taught between states, as well as areas including race, gender and disability — and overall threaten students’ civil rights.
According to AP News, The White House says Musk is serving as a “senior advisor” to Trump and is not involved with DOGE, further adding that Musk has “no actual authority to make government decisions himself.”
Maybe Musk doesn’t have the ability to make these decisions alone, but Trump has granted him far more power than should be considered appropriate for a civilian. Throughout Trump’s term so far, Musk has accompanied the president to cabinet meetings and meetings with world leaders, spaces he shouldn’t have the power to be in.
Musk was not a presidential candidate. He was not anywhere on the ballot. He’s not eligible to be president or vice president since he was born in South Africa, not the United States. He doesn’t have political expertise or experience to be doing the things he’s doing, nor did he reach this power fairly. He bought it.
On paper, Musk is merely a “special government employee.” But in practice, the so-called “First Buddy” is practically our new vice president, always at Trump’s side, showing up in public appearances, serving as an adviser and participating in cabinet and world leader meetings. He’s been renting a cottage at Mar-a-Lago, one of Trump’s estates — reportedly costing $2,000 dollars a night. That’s roughly the average U.S. rent per month. But it’s little more than pennies to Musk.
Musk is little more — if even that — than a 53-year-old child, who should not have access to anything within the government. He’s been throwing his power around every which way with DOGE.
While it may sound impossible, Musk wasn’t always this terrible. He wasn’t a good person by any means, seeing as he is a horribly unsupportive and absent father, but his shift to extreme conservatism and neo-Nazism is relatively newer.
Musk supported former president Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and former president Joe Biden in 2020, all Democratic candidates. He openly feuded with Trump on social media for years, denouncing his character and ability to serve as proper leadership.
2022 seemed to be the turning point. Musk started mainly supporting Republicans, saying he voted Republican for the first time for Mayra Flores, a former U.S. Representative from Texas. Also in a 2022 statement on X, he said the Democratic Party had gone from the “kindness party” to “the party of division and hate.”
Ironic.
Musk originally said he wouldn’t support either candidate in the 2024 presidential election, but switched over to supporting Trump in July 2024 shortly after an assassination attempt on the Republican candidate.
They’ve tried working together before, during Trump’s first presidency. But it all came to a screeching halt when Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017. In June 2017, Musk went to what was then Twitter, announcing he was leaving the councils, adding “Climate change is real.”
But now, Musk is saying things like “I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man,” posted on X Feb. 7, 2025.
So why is it all working out now?
The two are a match forged right in the middle of the fires of hell. They are exceptionally egotistic billionaires with more power and confidence than they’ve earned. They see themselves as above the rules. Much like Trump, Musk will also do practically anything for attention, even if it’s negative: just take a look at the poor decisions he’s made with DOGE while ensuring all eyes are on him.
Being the richest person in the world isn’t enough for Musk. Now, he’s eyeing the driver’s seat of one of the most powerful nations from the passenger side — when he shouldn’t have been allowed in the car (or should I say Cybertruck?) in the first place.
Antaine Anhalt is a first-year communication studies major and columnist for The News. He can be reached at anhalt.a@northeastern.edu.
