Donald Trump chose his new buddy Elon Musk over his MAGA loyalists in a recent crackup of his coalition, and a columnist teased out what that means for his presidency.
The tech billionaire drew the ire of Trump's hardcore anti-immigrant base – including Steve Bannon, Laura Loomer and Charlie Kirk – by trashing American workers and defending his use of H-1B visas to bring in skilled foreign workers at his companies, but the president-elect stayed out of the dispute that raged for days online, wrote Salon columnist Heather Digby Parton.
"Everyone had wondered if Trump was ever going to put down his golf clubs and say something," Parton wrote. "When he finally did it was in an interview with the NY Post in which he declared that he thinks the H-1B visas are just great and he uses them all the time at his properties."
MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec pointed out that Trump had been hostile to H-1B visas in the past and even signed an order in 2020 suspending the entry of those workers, but Parton said the president-elect has shown that he's dependent on Musk.
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"Once again, it's pretty obvious who wears the presidential pants in this new administration — and it isn't Donald Trump," Parton wrote.
Musk won that MAGA standoff days after forcing Republicans to kill a bipartisan spending deal, and Trump was sending forlorn missives on Truth Social begging him to come back to Mar-a-Lago in time for the New Year's Eve party.
"Elon Musk won yet another internecine GOP brawl and proved that he has the next president of the United States firmly under his thumb," Parton wrote. "Trump seems to be dazzled by him and his tech-bro billionaire buds in the same way he's dazzled by Vladimir Putin. Having the richest man in the world be his friend is more meaningful to him than being president again."
Those recent episodes show the two men have a different relationship dynamic than many had assumed, Parton said.
"I think we've all been thinking that Trump was going to get jealous and kick Musk to the curb sooner rather than later," Parton wrote. "But that's no sure thing. He's lost more than a step. He's four years older than when he left the White House and he's bored with the details of the presidency. From what we're seeing, he's ready to let his bff do whatever he wants and it's becoming clear to the MAGA activists who've worshipped him that it's not going to be Musk who's kicked to the curb — it's going to be them."