People Inside the White House Really, Really Dislike Elon Musk

Rolling Stone has an extensive profile on Elon Musk, which at this point reads like the rise and fall of yet another supporting character in Trump’s cursed little universe (seriously: no one escapes that orbit unscathed, except Stephen Miller — and that’s only because he’s the white Devil himself). As the piece notes — and as is hilariously evident in the petty little slap-fight between Musk and Peter Navarro — the Tesla CEO has been effectively iced out of Trumpworld ever since his embarrassing flop in Wisconsin, where he tried (and failed) to buy an election.

It’s a great read, but honestly, the real joy here is the sheer, unifying power of how universally Musk is despised — even by some of the most despicable people in America. It’s bad enough that he gleefully quotes the villains from Office Space (“What would you say you do here?”) without a shred of self-awareness or the faintest clue what that movie is about (he genuinely seems to think Bill Lumbergh is an aspirational figure). Worse still, he apparently just grates on the nerves of literally everyone within earshot.

“I have been in the same room with Elon, and he always tries to be funny. And he’s not funny. Like, at all,” a senior Trump administration official told Rolling Stone. “He makes these jokes and little asides and smiles and then looks almost hurt if you don’t lap up his humor. I keep using the word ‘annoying’; a lot of people who have to deal with him do. But the word doesn’t do the situation justice. Elon just thinks he’s smarter than everyone else in the room and acts like it, even when it’s clear he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

The piece goes on to say that after meetings with Musk, people would openly wonder if he was high — and a few even floated the idea of drug testing him just to be sure.

“Talking to the guy is sometimes like listening to really rusty nails on a chalkboard,” that same Trump official added. “He’s just the most irritating person I’ve ever had to deal with, and that is saying something.”

And look — if a senior Trump official, whose job presumably required interacting with Stephen Miller, J.D. Vance, and Jason Miller, says Elon Musk is the single most unbearable person they’ve ever encountered? That really is saying something.