President Donald Trump is notorious for selecting advisers who closely follow his command — and firing those who don’t. But Elon Musk seems to be the exception to that rule.
Musk has gotten increasingly bold in his open dissent in the past week on matters ranging from Trump’s political messaging to the president’s other advisers. And he has made a habit of getting out in front of the president, both before and after he joined the White House.
Democrats have tried to drive a wedge between the pair, mockingly referring to Musk as “President Elon” in a bid to try to anger the president who famously hates sharing the spotlight.
But by all accounts, Trump — who was notorious for firing officials at the drop of a hat under his previous administration — has remained happy with Musk, despite his fellow billionaire drawing a disproportionate amount of attention compared to other senior White House aides, and even members of the president’s Cabinet.
Spokespeople for the White House and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday about the pair’s relationship. But Trump has laughed off the co-president needling, saying in a joint interview with Musk on Fox News in February that “it’s just so obvious. They’re so bad at it.”
In fact, the president has continued to praise his adviser, even as he says he will leave soon. At a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Trump extolled Musk and his DOGE team, saying: “Your people are fantastic. Hopefully they will stay around for the long haul, we’d like to keep as many as we can.”
With no messaging from Trump otherwise, Musk has continued making known his opinions on administration affairs. Here are five times that Musk has gone well beyond any other presidential adviser:
Tariff tussle
Musk has taken aim at Trump’s trade counselor, Peter Navarro, one of the public faces of the administration’s signature aggressive tariff policies.
The billionaire launched several attacks at Navarro on his social media platform X starting last weekend, mocking him multiple times, including alongside a video in which Navarro explained the logic behind the tariff policy.
Trump’s tariffs immediately sparked market volatility and set in motion a global trade war. Musk, who is CEO of multiple companies reliant on parts imported from China — which has borne the brunt of Trump’s tariff ire — has lost billions.
He also said in a speech abroad that he hoped to one day see the U.S. and European Union get to a “zero-tariff situation” days after the start of the trade war.
The tech CEO appeared to take out his frustrations on Navarro, calling the trade counselor a “moron” and branding him with a new nickname — “Peter Retarrdo.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed off questions about Musk’s public attacks on Tuesday.
“Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue,” Leavitt said.
To infinity and beyond
Musk also spoke out this week after reports that the Office of Management and Budget had proposed massive cuts to NASA’s funding.
Musk, whose SpaceX is NASA’s largest private contractor, once again took to X to comment on the reports.
“Troubling,” he wrote of the reported cuts, adding that while he is “very much in favor of science,” he “unfortunately cannot participate in NASA budget discussions, due to SpaceX being a major contractor to NASA.”
Although he may not have actively participated in the budget decisions, the SpaceX CEO has long held a close relationship with Trump’s pick for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, and Isaacman’s payment processing company Shift4 has invested in Musk’s SpaceX.
Cabinet smackdown
Closer to home, Musk has also publicly interfered in the affairs of Trump’s Cabinet.
Musk, who has a seat at the table despite not officially being a Cabinet member, quarreled with Secretary of State Marco Rubio over how to handle cuts to the State Department.
“ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP. ANY STATEMENT OTHER THAN THAT IS FAKE NEWS!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump eventually reassured his Cabinet members that while Musk was empowered to make recommendations across the government, he could not make changes unilaterally — but only after Musk had run roughshod over much of the federal bureaucracy.
Musk also pushed then-transition co-chair Howard Lutnick to lead the Treasury Department in the weeks following Trump’s election. The president ultimately chose Scott Bessent to head Treasury, but tapped Lutnick as secretary of Commerce.
With friends like these
Musk also waded into the fight over Senate Republican leadership — something Trump stayed away from.
As the race heated up in November, Musk came out with a decisive endorsement for Florida’s Rick Scott for the job, even as Trump himself withheld his endorsement.
The president instead chose to proclaim that any senator seeking the leadership role “must agree to Recess Appointments” to hasten the entry process for Trump’s Cabinet appointments.
“Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!” Musk wrote, saying in a separate post that Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) — who ultimately won the position and is now key to getting Trump’s agenda through Congress — was the “top choice of Democrats.”
Going global
Musk has been vocal on elections at the global level as well, endorsing a slate of right-wing candidates in several European countries over the past few months — a highly unusual move for a presidential confidante.
The president’s adviser made waves after repeatedly endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany party in the country’s snap election this winter, drawing criticism for meddling in a foreign democracy. But Musk continued pushing the party, hosting a lengthy conversation with AfD leader and candidate for chancellor Alice Weidel.
The X owner even appeared virtually at a party rally days after Trump was inaugurated, in which he encouraged Germans to vote for Weidel — and to “move on” from “past guilt,” seemingly referencing the country’s history with the Nazi party.
The billionaire has also levied criticisms at now-British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who Trump has publicly taken a shine to. Musk also threw his support briefly behind anti-immigrant Reform leader Nigel Farage, before trashing the U.K. politician in an about-face on another longtime ally of the president.