Trump versus Musk: who will blink first?

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to guests from the South Portico of the White House during an event on the South Lawn on June 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump held the “Summer Soirée” for guests, including government staffers, to visit the grounds and enjoy the recent onset of summer heat. AFP]

If Kenyans thought that they had conquered the social media spaces especially X (formerly Twitter), then the unfolding feud between Us President Donald Trump and his erstwhile friend turned foe, Elon Musk might recalibrate that notion.

The two are not your ordinary folks but the most powerful men in the world right now, politically and financially. As the American president, Trump is the most powerful man on earth politically, while Musk, with a net worth of $432 billion, is the richest man alive.

Trump is serving his second term as president with the promise to Make America Great Again, (MAGA), a Version 2.0 of his last team before Joe Biden interrupted his quest to 'Make America Great' about four years ago.

His defeat by Biden upset Trump’s supporters so much that they invaded Capitol Hill, the seat of America’s legislative power on January 6, 2021, where they caused chaos as the world watched in horror. It was an attempted civilian coup by any other name.

The jailed perpetrators of the chaos in Washington would later be pardoned during Trump’s second term in a move he said “ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years”.

In the eyes of many people in the developing world, Kenya included, America had joined the ranks of ‘failed’ countries where elections have become a ritualistic exercise that could be manipulated to favour the powerful.

Fast forward to 2025 and Trump is back on the saddle, this time riding in fury and sweeping everyone who dares cross his path. The initial casualties of his wrath were development projects in some of the world’s poorest countries.

A quick glance at the White House web page shows a flurry of executive orders issued by Trump that have reset the world order. Among these include suspending all material assistance under the United States Aid Agency (USAID) that has hit the world’s health programmes hard. In any case, Trump had issued another executive order in January to withdraw America from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The world is losing count of the number of executive orders issued by President Trump and that have rattled the globe in unprecedented ways. Trade tariffs, deporting those he feels plan “to harm America” whether born in the country or not, and banning foreign admissions to Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

One of the latest presidential proclamations which could affect Kenya’s geopolitical environment was issued on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. The order suspending and restricting entry into the United States of nationals of several Africa countries where Kenya has vested interests could have far-reaching repercussions.

Among the countries whose nationals have been suspended from visiting America include Somalia, Burundi, Eritrea, and Sudan. Kenya has been fighting Al Shabaab terrorists based in Somalia with America disinterested in putting up more resources to crush the group.

Burundi is one of the world's poorest nations and a member of the East Africa Community.

Sudan is currently ungovernable with Kenya being fingered for taking sides in the country's civil war. Kenya's foreign ministry denies the claims. Eritrea has had a record of deteriorating human rights and religious intolerance. 

And this is where Elon Musk, the man who spent a fortune to fund Trump’s election campaign comes in. Most of Trump's declarations have had his fingerprint. Trump had formed an outfit known as Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), whose mission was to cut government expenditure. Musk was the head of this unit. 

The bromance between the two blossomed as Musk went on a cost-cutting spree, at one time brandishing a power saw to demonstrate the full force of DOGE. Musk, usually flanked by his youngest son with a curious name, X Æ A-12, became regulars at Trump’s White House. Nothing could stop the mighty march of the two American giants, or so it seemed.

This week, Trump vetoed the tax and domestic policy bill, calling it “a big, beautiful bill”. Musk, worried that the bill will increase public spending by raising the debt ceiling, the very opposite of what he (Musk) had been tasked to do, called it an abomination.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on X, a platform he owns. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

Trump shot back: “Very disappointed. Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”

Then the two went on each other’s jugular, sharing tough epithets and retaliatory innuendos like jilted lovers. Trump accused Musk of reneging on a matter he knew so well about. Musk’s rejoinder?  “False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”

Trump threatened to cancel government contracts involving Musk’s companies in order to save money, saying he “was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it”. Already, Musk’ star projects, Tesla, has taken a financial hit as a result of his gallivanting with the White House at the expense of shareholders.

Musk, the King of Technology, could not take that lying down, promising ‘dire’ repercussions for Trump’s actions against him. “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” he stated.

The spacecraft has been used to carry American astronauts to and from the International Space Station and has been described as “the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth.” The spacecraft's withdrawal will be a blow to America's space agency, NASA.

On Friday, Musk formulated a poll question: Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?” Already, 5.1 million Americans have voted with results yet to be declared.

The feud between Trump and Musk has parallels in Kenya today. As Musk said, spending all the money on paying interest on debt, there will be nothing left for development. “A country is no different from a person. Country overspends, country goes bankrupt, same as a person who overspends goes bankrupt. And the drama continues.