ArcaMax

Elon Musk may have thought that dropping more than $250 million into Trump's reelection campaign would have bought permanent affection from the president. No, it was a show of obeisance that labeled Musk as one to be played. Besides, in Trump's dog-eat-dog view of wealth, the far-richer Musk may have needed cutting down to size.

Trump knows about human nature. Musk, for all his awesome faculties, does not. Like Heracles brought down by trusting a scheming wife, Musk suffered the fatal flaw of assuming that Trump was truly on his side.

At first it looked like Musk's hopes would be met. Stock of the tech mogul's crown jewel Tesla soared on the belief that Trump would grandly reward his enterprises. It's now down 29% from its December high.

Musk didn't get that his union with Trump would repel Tesla buyers. They tend to be the better educated and environmentally aware. Trump proceeded to drive a stake in the U.S. electric vehicle market that Musk had launched. Trump's toxic comments about Europe, made worse by his tariff machinations, deep-sixed Tesla sales there.

Did Musk think he was being rewarded with a big government job as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE? What Trump did was make Musk the face of unpopular budget cuts.

And so, while Trump was out front vowing not to touch Medicaid, Musk's team found large sums to chop from the program. When the Republican House tax and spending bill cut about $880 over 10 years from the program, Trump warmly applauded.

On Friday, Trump held a bon-voyage press conference for Musk in the Oval Office. Trump patted Musk on the head as he left DOGE to save his wounded businesses. The enduring visual was of an unsmiling Musk with a black eye caused by who-knows-what.

The very next day, Trump delivered more disrespect by announcing the withdrawal of his nomination of Musk's pick to head NASA, his pal Jared Isaacman. As an explanation, Trump cited Isaacman's "prior associations," that is, his contributions to Democratic campaigns.

Musk's enthusiastic endorsement apparently no longer counted for much. Perhaps realizing that he had once again been dissed, Musk "bravely" posted a contrary view on his X website: "It is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted" as Isaacman.

There's something sad about that. It may be hard to summon tears for the world's richest man, a guy who coldly backed big reductions in life-saving humanitarian aid. But one must also account for his inability to guess how others would react, a genuine handicap that prevented Musk from accurately sizing up Trump. He simply couldn't imagine how the public would respond to DOGE's more savage cuts.

Musk says that he had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a condition tied to difficulty understanding social cues and unwritten social rules. We can well believe it. Musk suffered at the hands of an abusive father. Bullied in school, he was sent to a hospital after a group of boys pushed him down a staircase.

As Musk returns to his limping businesses, the Tesla board seems unsure what to pay him. Investors had become highly irritated by Musk's disappearance into MAGA land. As pay consultant Alan Johnson put it, the board must require that Musk start "to run it like a real company."

It's hard to see how Tesla can recover from its founder's toxic links with Trump and fascistic movements in Europe. As for SpaceX, foreign governments are already canceling contracts.

As he sent Musk into the sunset, Trump clearly wanted to keep the door open for more play. "He's going to be back and forth, I think."

Feeling sorry for Musk is not impossible.

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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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