Why the Elon Musk-Donald Trump Bromance Might Be On a Collision Course

There was a time, not long ago, in which most people might have scoffed at the idea that Elon Musk, an entrepreneur with aspirations to save the world from climate change, would become a right-wing folk hero. And yet, that's precisely the transformation he underwent this year. The billionaire CEO of Tesla—now known for his ardent support of Donald Trump and his endless philippics against the “woke mind virus”—has become a major power player in the MAGAverse, and is set to head up a new initiative in Trump’s second administration, so called the "Department of Government Efficiency." In the latest episode of Inside the Hive, VF special correspondent Nick Bilton and New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger unpack what brought Musk into the MAGAverse, how he plans to gut the regulatory state under Trump, and why the duo’s ego-fueled bromance may be destined to blow up. “I think we are on a collision course of personalities with these two,” Conger predicts. “[Musk is] going to want complete control...and I don't think Trump is going to be willing to give him that."

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What won’t people do for power? On Inside the Hive, Vanity Fair’s editor in chief, Radhika Jones, along with executive editor Claire Howorth and Hive editor Michael Calderone, spotlight the players jockeying for status, the coattail riders, and the ones truly calling the shots. How far will these power seekers go? What rules will they break? And what happens to those who stand in their way? Each week Inside the Hive brings you tales of the rich and fickle. Power brokers eventually fall. Betrayals happen. And plots get twisted.