Musk just exposed 'fragile' MAGA's weakness — and Dems can 'exploit it': analyst
The war between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump has exposed MAGA’s as “fragile,” and Salon’s Senior Politics writer Amanda Marcotte believes now Democrats can exploit.
“Elon Musk's vow to leave politics behind did not last long,” Marcotte wrote, “But I confess I had no idea that he would come back to the fold by taking swings at his beloved daddy replacement, Trump.”
She noted how Musk’s companies rely on government subsidies, which will be killed if the one “big, beautiful bill” is passed. Marcotte believes this is why “the tech billionaire has become fixated on killing the bill.”
“Even if Musk fails in his efforts to kill Trump's bill, this battle is exposing a deeper truth that the White House can't hide: The MAGA coalition is fragile and some of the differences are starting to tear at the seams less than half a year into the second Trump term,” Marcotte said.
“Trump's slim win in 2024 was no doubt due in large part to Musk,” the senior writer said, “and not just the eye-popping quarter-billion-plus Musk spent to push the old man's orange carcass over the finish line.”
She noted that while most of the MAGA movement is Christian-nationalist based, Musk and the other Silicon Valley executives who voted for Trump in 2024 might be reconsidering their choices next election cycle.
“But while these two groups joined together based on a shared animosity towards racial minorities and women, it was always a far more uneasy alliance than Musk or Trump wanted to admit.” Marcotte added, “And now it's getting shakier as two narcissistic billionaires are at odds.”
Marcotte believes the Trump-Musk war is “It's not about religion, per se, but the culture clash between the Musk fanboys and the Christian nationalist debate is driving much of this.”
She added, “He'd never admit it publicly, but I'm betting Donald Trump is regretting that he relaxed the White House rules about drug testing.”
On X, the writer said she believe enemies of the GOP can "exploit" this new dynamic.