'Not just some troll': Analyst says foreign leaders are tiptoeing around Musk

Elon Musk is creating headaches for foreign leaders who are upset with his far-right politics yet don't want to anger his "patron," President-elect Donald Trump, according to a new analysis by CNN Politics reporter Stephen Collinson.

In a piece for CNN.com Tuesday, Collinson wrote, "Musk could easily be dismissed as a mischievous antagonist who simply loves to shock and is pursuing his own obsessions one X post at a time."

"But he’s not just some troll. He’s the world’s richest man, owns some of the globe’s most strategic and influential businesses, and is wielding a mighty social media network. Musk is highlighting his enormous influence as a populist force galvanizing political provocateurs as a kind of one-man supranational non-state power."

Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, who both head up multi-national companies, were tapped by Trump to run the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, tasked with cutting budgetary waste.

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"It’s therefore going to be hard to know where Musk’s policy ends and official US foreign policy starts," Collinson wrote.

The risk to foreign officials who rebuke Musk's populist politics -- like his recent "tirade" against the British government -- is that Trump could make policy decisions based on how his pal is treated. (Trump and Musk are so close that some have joked the tech entrepreneur is Trump's "new First Lady.")

For instance, even though the U.K. government is hoping to curry favor with Trump as the President-elect vows to implement major trade tariffs, Prime Minister Keir Starmer was forced to respond over Musk's multiple X posts calling for his ouster. Starmer hit back, saying Musk "crossed a line" and was using his X platform to spread "lies and misinformation.”

Collinson wrote, "Trump’s willingness to tolerate Musk’s fierce attacks on allied leaders is also a sign that the coming months could be even more rocky for America’s friends than his first term," noting that the pair's criticism of Justin Trudeau may have been a factor in the Canadian Prime Minister's resignation Monday.

Read the full CNN article here.