The most significant sign of Republican success and excess in recent years has been their willingness to shut up, shallow their pride and fall in line behind their dear leader Donald Trump. Elon Musk has broken that code of silence with a loud blast against Trump that has launched social media memes and given late night comedians a magazine full of ammo for a laugh riot at Trump’s expense.
The divorce was inevitable when you take both men’s career histories and personal lives into account. Musk wanted to be the Sun King but Trump only wants his subordinates to shine in his reflected glory. The mogul flew high through the stratosphere but then crashed violently to Earth. The president used his now-ex as a storm trooper to shock the federal bureaucracy. Once Musk decimated the government infrastructure and became a political liability, Trump dumped him like he has so many others.
Breaking up is hard to do when the couple is the center of the GOP universe. It’s like the divorce between Prince Charles and Princess Diana that shook British society to its very core. The split between the two MAGA poster boys is a clear crack in the floor of the MAGA foundation.
Until now, the big story in politics has been divisions between progressive and establishment Democrats that Trump has exploited for his own nefarious gain. The worm has turned, and my party should turn the table to drive a wedge through the GOP divide. Democrats should prosper now that Musk is the focus of the president’s anger and Republican wounds are open and full of bile. It’s an opportunity for us to attack instead of just taking on incoming flak.
Now that there is a split in the MAGA ranks, some of the other underlying dark fault lines in Trump world may finally emerge into the clear light of day.
Something is stinking within the party that used to be Abraham Lincoln’s. There has already been and a bitter conflict between the do or die extremist Freedom Caucus in the House and the pragmatically conservative suburban Republicans from competitive districts in California and New York who are just trying to live though the midterm elections.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) efforts to accommodate both groups and keep his fragile majority intact produced what Musk described as a “disgusting abomination” of a big, boated budget bill. For the first time, he and I agree but for different reasons.
The X owner doesn’t think the cuts in the social safety net are severe enough. I abhor the proposal because it targets poor people and kids to give big tax breaks for plutocrats and aristocrats like Musk. Cuts in programs that help finally pressed middle class families are inevitably next on the GOP trickle down agenda now that the president and the Speaker have deepened the federal budget deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade.
Trump’s big bad budget bill could also expose the contradictions inherent in his desire to pay off the rich corporate types like Musk who funded him and the low-income whites who voted for him. Trump’s victory in 2024 was bult on GOP gains with low-income white voters. Many of them depend on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for their survival. MAGA strategist Steve Bannon (no relation) has worried that the program cuts to pay for the tax cuts for the ultra-rich will undermine the progress that Republicans have made building the populist working class movement which helped the GOP win last year.
Bannon, like Musk, is now in exile after he also tried to upstage the presidential reality show TV star when he was a White House counselor early in Trump’s first term. Musk’s exit from the Trump circus will have an even more profound effect than Bannon’s because the tech magnate is a much bigger star and has lots more money. Musk spent nearly $300 million on campaigns in 2024, and Republicans will need a ton of dough to defend their precarious hold on the House.
Now that Trump and Musk have torn the sheets, the big question is whether the nasty split will add to Republican troubles in the next round of midterm and presidential elections. Musk is extremely popular with rank-and-file Trump supporters, so it will be interesting to see whether he uses his popularity and money to support candidates who run against Trump favorites in intrasquad GOP contests. The space exploration magnate has expressed a desire to withdraw from politics on this planet but he does have billions in federal grants and his massive ego to protect.
It will be the kids who suffer from the divorce. If the president endorses his ardent supporter Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a bitter primary challenge against Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) next year, would Musk support the embattled incumbent out of spite? Musk could intensify this party battle and give Democrats a chance to pick up a seat in a crimson red state.
During the bitter divorce proceedings, Vice President JD Vance has remained steadfastly loyal to his president. Would Musk find his own horse for the GOP presidential nod in 2028, such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to stop the veep?
Stay tuned. Both men are drama kings, so this soap opera masquerading as a reality TV show should bolster ratings on Fox News and cyber hits on X and Truth Social for months to come. Enjoy!
Brad Bannon is a national Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications Research which polls for Democrats, labor unions and progressive issue groups. He hosts the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.
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