Could Elon Musk Tear MAGA Apart?

 Elon Musk appears to go out of his way to antagonize prominent MAGA figures, but experts suggest this could be beneficial for the movement in the long term as the tech billionaire seeks to impact President Donald Trump's second term

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Newsweek has contacted the White House and X, the social media platform owned by Musk, formerly known as Twitter, for comment via email.

There have been concerns about how much influence Musk wields over Trump and within the administration. He apparently played a key role in Trump loyalist Vivek Ramaswamy stepping away from co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency, according to Politico.

But any fallout between Musk and figures of the MAGA movement risks straining his relationship with the president.

Elon Musk is, by nature, a contrarian," political strategist Denny Salas told Newsweek. "He will oppose a person's stance to compel them to make a persuasive argument for their position. Will it run afoul of the MAGA ethos? Sure, but it'll ensure President Trump receives the best information."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk endorses Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds on October 05, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

'Trump Expects Competing Voices'

This was never so clear as when Trump sided with Musk over the H1-B visa debate.

In late December, Musk had voiced support for H-1B visas, which allows skilled foreign workers to work in the U.S. Musk, whose companies have benefited from the H-1B visa program, faced criticism from MAGA figures, including Bannon and far-right activist Laura Loomer, known for her hard-line views on immigration.

In a post on X, Loomer accused tech executives like Musk of "throwing around money at Mar a Lago trying to buy influence in the White House so they can determine tech policy, limit regulation on China, and control our immigration policy."

"The reason I'm in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B...I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend," Musk had replied to critics.

Loomer has since accused Musk of "egregious retaliatory censorship," saying he censored her X account.

"I represent a lot of people in MAGA and break many important stories," she wrote in a January 22 post on X. "It's outrageous and un-American that a TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL is deliberately trying to harm my livelihood by cutting off my subscriptions and shadow-banning my account. This egregious retaliatory censorship needs to end. The assault on President Trump's base NEEDS TO END NOW!"

'Out of Control'

But Loomer's feud with Musk is not what has raised the most eyebrows within the MAGA movement this week. His criticism of Trump's backing of a multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence investment did.

Musk drew the ire of historic MAGA figure Steve Bannon after he criticized the $500 billion joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank to improve artificial intelligence infrastructure in the U.S, which was announced, not to mention backed, by Trump on Wednesday.

Writing on X, Musk said the companies lacked the funds to complete such a project, saying "SoftBank has well under $10B secured."

In an interview, Bannon, a former Trump White House chief strategist, criticized Musk for publicly opposing the Trump-endorsed AI initiative.

"I've never seen action like this in my life. I've never seen someone on another aspect of the government that has been deputized by the president himself come in and openly criticize him," he told Politico.

Bannon also told reporters on Wednesday Musk was "out of control" for speaking out against the president.

"I think someone who actually is a friend of Elon Musk needs to do an intervention because I think he's becoming Icarus," conservative radio host Erick Erickson said in a Wednesday broadcast. "Icarus flew so high and so close to the sun, the wax began to melt, the feathers began to drop off, and he plummeted to the earth and died. Donald Trump doesn't like people to be more exposed than him, and [Musk's] headed that way. He needs to be careful—if he wants to have a real impact, he needs to stay behind the scenes and not in the spotlight."

'Calculating, but Not Diabolical'

For Republican communications specialist T.J. McCormack, this constitutes the regular ebb and flow of power struggles at the top, especially with someone as disruptive as Musk leading the Department of Government Efficiency.

"Will there be skirmishes along the way? Absolutely, but such is life among the generals. During WWII, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and MacArthur all famously battled within their ranks, with one or two being temporarily sidelined by their boss, Eisenhower. In the end, despite all that, the Allies won bigly." McCormack told Newsweek.

"While Elon Musk is certainly a wily creature, he is not wild," he added. "He's calculating, but not diabolical. Musk won't destroy his marketplace, which at his level, is the entire damn planet—if not the universe. Musk feeds off the aspirational positivity that characterizes MAGA."