Tech billionaire Elon Musk wants to have his cake and eat it too, said MSNBC's Ari Melber on Friday evening — enjoying the power his relationship with President Donald Trump gives him, while at the same time not taking any responsibility for Trump policies he doesn't agree with or that are unsuccessful.
This comes as Musk formally departs from a full-time role as an adviser to the White House — but even then, Trump himself won't commit to Musk actually being gone, saying he will continue to advise in some capacity.
"Musk is leaving an operation where even he doesn't claim he succeeded, leaving public service having lost many billions of dollars because the public had views about his service and it affected him," said Melber. "And he is now distancing himself from at least some Trump policies," he played a clip of Musk.
"It's not like I agree with everything the administration does," said Musk, who in one prior cabinet meeting wore a hat that said "TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING." "I'm a little stuck in a bind where I'm like, well, I don't want to, you know, speak out against the administration, but I don't want to because I also don't want to take responsibility for everything the administration is doing."
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"Welcome to public service," said Melber. "The difference between Musk and virtually everyone else who signs up to work for a president is most people treat it like the serious, full-time job that it is. They take an oath to the Constitution. They understand as long as you're in that job, you do do the thing he said he didn't want to do. You have to go along with the values and plans of the person you work for, in this case, the president. Or if you reach a breaking point, you quit."
"Musk is, again, trying to have it both ways, and he has clearly basked in some of the power and attention of being tied to the president and donating a lot of money to the president when they were running last year, while also wanting to make the break in ways that benefit or matter to him," Melber said. For instance, "he did express disapproval, disagreement with aspects of that budget, and he noted that it is in conflict with his supposed goal of saving money, which he's leaving having not achieved."
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