As if the billionaire megadonor doesn’t already have enough access to Donald Trump, Musk is reportedly poised to receive office space near the West Wing.

Summary

Elon Musk, a Republican megadonor and close Trump ally, is reportedly set to have office space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the West Wing.

Musk is expected to head the “Department of Government Efficiency,” aiming to reduce federal spending under Trump.

Critics question Musk’s influence, noting his frequent presence at key Trump meetings and events.

This move, if confirmed, would grant Musk continued access to Trump post-inauguration, sparking debate about the billionaire’s role in the administration despite holding no official government position.

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    77·
    2 months ago

    Waitaminute… Isn’t he going into the tesla office every day? I thought employees couldn’t be productive without being in the office!

    • Critical_Thinker@lemm.eeEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      Come on, there’s the press releases and public relations and then there’s reality.

      The reality is that businesses want employees to leave so they can avoid paying severance and because the banks will give them preferential rates for utilizing office space, keeping commercial properties artificially inflated despite major changes in the perception and reality about how work can be performed.

      It’s easy to downsize at very large companies, it just piles on more work for those that remain. During booming times like most tech companies had in the pandemic they hired like gangbusters at the behest of middle management, now it’s austerity time so they can focus on massive profits while corporate taxes are at an excessive temporary low.

  • 58008@lemmy.worldEnglish
    47·
    2 months ago

    Not that I would ever condone or encourage such abhorrent and inexcusable behaviour, but it would seem like if anyone in US politics is begging for a bullet, it’s Musk. Even more so than Trump or his cabinet of monstrosities. Musk is uniquely poised to catch a round in the dome. And it will probably be a MAGA lunatic that does it.

    • Deway@lemmy.world
      17·
      2 months ago

      Musk is a bigger problem for the world as a whole than Trump is. So yeah, I still don’t get why it hasn’t happened yet.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
    21·
    2 months ago

    This twerp must have some absolutely devastating dirt on Trumpy boy. I’m coming to the conclusion that there’s no other explanation. It can’t possibly just be money; Trump has tons of other rich donors. What I’m struggling to predict, though, is just what he could possibly have to hold over Trump’s head that’s worse than selling classified documents, misusing campaign funds, trying to incite an insurrection, or failing to pay his hookers.

    • andyburke@fedia.io
      43·
      2 months ago

      It’s not like this. This is conspiratorial thinking.

      These people are just … weirdos. This is how weirdos are friends: transactionally, with little common ground. Trump feels like he has something to offer a friend that friend, even though he’s richer, can’t.

      It’s all fucking base and stupid and nowhere near the ideals we are supposed to aspire to as a nation.

    • Supervisor194@lemmy.world
      5·
      2 months ago

      They are both beholden to Putin, very likely afraid for their lives and rightfully so. Putin is a billionaire but he also has a state apparatus with global reach behind him that he is intimately familiar with. He has demonstrated repeatedly over the years that he is willing and able to use that apparatus to… make people fall out of windows, etc. And all of this doesn’t even consider the possibility of kompromat - these are all deeply bad people.

      I believe Putin is the real mastermind behind everything that is going on and also that he has realized that Trump is of limited value to him in the White House. Trump’s cult gets him in, but he had four years already and really didn’t make a lot of inroads (not to mention his visibly declining health).

      So in my opinion, this is Putin shuttling in someone who can be more useful to him. The canary in the coal mine for whether or not this is true will be to see if the infighting everyone is breathlessly predicting ever materializes. I predict it will not. Elon Musk will not end up like Anthony Scaramucci.

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
    15·
    2 months ago

    Dystopian implications aside, I wanna see how long it takes for everyone to be absolutely sick of him. He’s already insufferable when he’s not even in the room.

      • TommySoda@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        I’m talking more about the other people in the Whitehouse. I’ve had my fair share of obnoxious and insufferable coworkers that I’ve been forced to interact with on a daily basis.