Will the Trump-Musk rift really change anything? | Jan-Werner Müller

Much has been made of the falling out, but Doge's destruction continues and Musk's fate is entwined with Trump's

Thinking about the constant stream of news about Elon Musk, one is tempted to adapt two of the most famous sentences from American literature. William Faulkner wrote: The past is never dead. It's not even past." What comes to mind about Musk is: He is not gone forever. He has not even left."

It is profoundly misleading to frame Musk's departure this past week as disappointed reformer quits after finding it impossible to make bureaucracy efficient", just as it is wrong to think of this week's rift as Trump regime changes direction". After all, Musk's people are still there; and Musk-ism - understood as the wanton destruction of state capacity and cruel attacks on the poorest - will continue on ... what's the drug appropriate to mention here? Steroids? Not least, Trump's and Musk's fates remain entwined.

Jan-Werner Muller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University