Seth Meyers, host of the talk show Late Night, has said that US President-elect Donald Trump‘s relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk is destined for failure. Meyers discussed the topic on his Thursday “A Closer Look” segment.
Meyers stressed Trump‘s past claims of independence from wealthy donors, contrasting them with Musk’s current influence on Trump’s decisions. He referenced a CNN appearance by Wall Street Journal reporter Vivian Salama to highlight this point. Salama mentioned that Trump typically likes to be his own spokesman.
“Donald Trump typically likes to kind of be his own spokesman,” Salama said. “It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.”
In response to Salama’s comment, Meyers remarked that it would indeed be interesting, similar to placing a leopard in a gorilla enclosure at a zoo and wondering if they would become friends. He added that the situation would inevitably end in disaster.
“Oh, it’ll definitely be interesting. The same way it would be interesting to put a leopard in the gorilla enclosure at a zoo. ‘Oh, I wonder what’ll happen! They’ll probably be friends.’ This is obviously gonna end in disaster, it’s just a question of how and when,” Meyers said.
‘A Christmas Carol’
Seth Meyers also criticised Musk’s social media posts about the potential government shutdown. Musk encouraged Congress to reject a deal that would prevent the shutdown. Meyers compared Musk’s actions to a negative version of Scrooge from A Christmas Carol.
Meyers commented on Musk’s posts urging Congress to vote against a deal to avoid a government shutdown. “Shoutout to the billionaire’s ‘shut it all down on the holidays’ energy,” Meyers said. “This is like if ‘A Christmas Carol’ ended with Scrooge kicking in Bob Cratchit’s door screaming ‘Give me that f—ing turkey! Also I want the boy’s cane!’”
Musk’s appointment as DOGE leader
In November, Trump appointed Elon Musk and Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Announcing the appointments, Trump declared, “I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).”
House approves government funding bill
The House of Representatives passed a government funding bill on Friday evening with a 366-34 vote, aimed at averting a partial government shutdown. The bill was approved after intense negotiations and criticism from Trump and Musk, who both argued that the initial version was excessively “bloated.”
Earlier, a shutdown seemed imminent as House Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement on a short-term spending bill before the Friday night deadline. According to a FOX News report, Musk reportedly threatened to support primary challengers against Republicans who backed the previous spending deal.
Trump’s team responds to Musk’s growing influence on GOP
Trump’s team addressed claims from the opposition that Musk is the ‘real president,’ pointing to his increasing influence over the GOP.
Trump’s transition spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, in an interview with Business Insider, stressed that Trump’s impact on Republican lawmakers became clear after he took a stance on the Continuing Resolution (CR). “As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,” Leavitt said. According to her, there is no doubt Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop,” she said