Trump-Musk, a fight between two egomaniacs or a political clash? The techno right has (for now) lost

The rupture between them is only seemingly sensational. It is a dramatic turn of events for those who had liked the "oligarchy theorem."

Federico Rampini - Corriere della Sera

The "friendly" split between Elon Musk and Donald Trump lasted very little,

The first to open hostilities was the Tesla, StarLink and SpaceX entrepreneur. He called the budget bill being discussed by Congress, proposed by the White House, "horrible and disgusting."

According to him, if this financial maneuver is approved, it will increase an “already gigantic” public deficit beyond all measure. He is right about the facts.

On the one hand, this avalanche of accusations is destined to confirm the fears that financial markets have about American budget policy.

On the other hand, this controversy is soothing. There is no dark background. Even the psychological dimension, the quarrel between two egomaniacs, is secondary. The real clash is political: between a hyper-liberal and a populist.

Musk's economic culture is that of Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher; or more recently Javier Bardem. He adds to it an unbridled faith in technology.

Attention to votes

For Trump, talking about economic culture is overkill. But he is someone who knows how to count votes. The working-class world that brought him to the White House for a second time did not entrust him with the mission of using a chainsaw against public health (Medicare, Medicaid) or pensions (Social Security).

Despite stereotypes about a welfare-free America, the main items of public spending are medical care and pensions.

In the federal budget, what was described as the backbone of American power has been eroded.

First, Musk tried to seriously carry out the Doge mission: Department of Government Efficiency.

Disappointingly, state lobbies proved to be more cunning and aggressive than he was.

Then he turned his attention to the maneuver that Trump is seeking votes for in Congress. Real horror. It does not reduce the deficit and debt as it should, on the contrary.

Plutocracy in retreat

The dissolution is only on the surface sensational. It is a dramatic turn of events for those who had been enamored with the “oligarchy theorem”: the idea that America, with the election of Trump, had ceased to be a democracy, to become a regime governed by a small group of plutocrats, all-powerful capitalists.

Musk, who was supposed to be the number one of the supposed oligarchs, is retreating and contemplating revenge.

Far from enriching them, the partnership with Trump has so far cost them dearly (falling stock market values; declining Tesla revenue).

On the other hand, the political mission that Musk was in love with has been blocked by a thousand resistances: the alliance between the public employment lobbies and the judiciary has blocked many of his decisions. He too has been a victim of the illusion of many politically connected entrepreneurs who naively believed that they could transfer the decision-making and speed of private companies to the State.

The other power that Musk defeated is the White House. In Trump, populist instinct prevails over ideology. The metamorphosis he imposed on the Republican Party led it from representing the bourgeoisie to defending the lower middle classes, where it even won consensus among young people and ethnic minorities.

The social right emerges victorious from the first serious clash with the techno-right.

Now we'll see if the latter has a stable base, for example among young digital natives in love with cryptocurrencies. Can the group that Musk brought as a dowry to Trump break away and become a party?

But American bipartisanship has always suppressed efforts to allow the emergence of third forces.

And Musk overestimates – as do his critics – the power that X and his money give him.