CNN
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All eyes were on the sky over a Texas launch pad Tuesday as the world’s largest rocket roared into space.
But the orbits that are currently attracting the most attention are not in the heavens, but in increasingly intimate orbits that are back on Earth and will soon once again unite the most powerful and richest men on Earth. It is.
President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk met with Republicans in Washington, watched an Ultimate Fighting Championship match in New York, and stopped at McDonald’s on the plane with a grimacing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. After that, I went out to watch Musk’s game again. The SpaceX Starship rocket has launched on its latest test flight.
This time, President Trump’s exaggeration did not go too far. “I’m heading to Texas to see the launch of the largest object ever lifted not just into space, but simply off the ground,” he wrote on social media.
Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX visionary, has spent the past two weeks at Mar-a-Lago reveling in President Trump’s mirrored glory. He was close to Trump, like family, and even appeared in photos of Trump’s relatives. Now it’s time for him to share some of his own aura with his new best friend.
President Trump clenched his jaw, squinted his eyes against the glare, and donned a red MAGA hat with “45” and “47” written on it, posing as Mount Rushmore, but it certainly looked like a rocket taking off and burning. I was conscious of the split screen of the TV. It looked as if he was claiming some of the credit.
In the tense moments before the launch, various small satellites orbited President Trump, including his son Donald Jr., Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former White House physician Rep. Ronnie Jackson. But the president-elect was most animated when Musk appeared and explained what would happen when the rocket took off.
At this event, President Trump did not get to see SpaceX’s suborbital ballet as it returns its giant booster while holding on to a state-of-the-art launch pad, which he had praised during the campaign. “I see fire coming out of the bottom of the rocket coming in from the side, and I say, ‘It’s going to hit the gantry,'” President Trump said earlier this month. “And they grabbed those two big, beautiful arms. I said, ‘What the hell was that?'”
On Tuesday, air traffic controllers made a split-second decision to force-land the vehicle, which resembles a giant Roman candle as it descended in slow motion, into the Gulf of Mexico. “Maybe they just want to make sure they don’t kill the next president of the United States,” Greg Autry, vice president for space commercialization and space strategy at the University of Central Florida, told CNN.
However, the astonishing sight of Starship taking off with a roar from the launch pad, circling the Earth in a few minutes, and delicately landing feet-first in the Indian Ocean was a testament to the genius of Mr. Musk, who revolutionized the space industry. It was proof that he had been resurrected. The U.S. human spaceflight program is moving forward with plans to return humans to the moon and eventually Mars.
This explains why Mr. Trump wants Mr. Musk by his side. If Musk can reinvent the electric vehicle business and revolutionize aerospace at the same time, what could he do with the new Department of Government Efficiency that Trump has appointed him and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead? Is there? President Trump believes he is on a mission to blow up the federal bureaucracy, much like the prototype rocket his new friend used to advance progress in the space program.
But the fact that the president-elect attended the Starship launch and anointed Musk with his approval also shows that there are major problems with the partnership.
The South African-born billionaire currently plays major roles in space exploration, U.S. national security and the electric vehicle industry. And Mr. Trump can bestow extraordinary favors on Mr. Musk. With presidential powers in his new role as the scourge of government, Mr. Musk may be able to wipe out regulations that hinder his business and profit from tilting markets.
Conflicts of interest were never seriously considered during the first Trump administration. But Musk’s ubiquity in Trump 2.0 as a prominent ally of an emerging inner circle of billionaires, billionaires and Fox News anchors means they have officially become a joke. do.
Watch SpaceX launch Starship on its sixth test flight
The reason Trump likes Musk is not rocket science. He’s dynamic and definitely a genius. The president-elect is also the richest man in the world, especially the man who spent millions of dollars to get him elected, who reflects Trump’s conspiratorial worldview, and who has enormous influence, freeing X. I also like the ego boost of being courted by someone. Huge number of voters.
In many ways, Mr. Musk is a much more successful version of Mr. Trump himself. He broke things before they could be put back together, was married multiple times, and was shaped by a domineering father who left an imprint on his psyche. Trump, who seeks to dominate every room and every relationship, rarely seems impressed by anything other than himself. But Musk’s fanboy appreciation of rocket technology appears to be completely genuine.
Still, it’s more than a dream of money and space.
By aligning himself with Musk, the 78-year-old Trump has secured entry into a subculture of young men where the Tesla pioneer is considered an icon. Their friendship also increased Trump’s credibility among other opinion formers who reach this demographic. That was evident in Trump’s appearances on YouTube shows and podcasts with Joe Rogan, Nelk Boyz, Theo Von and Barstool Sports.
All of this helped Mr. Trump improve his electoral standing among young male voters, a constituency that Democrats have struggled to reach. Mr. Trump has rarely been more at ease and sincere in these venues, discussing wrestling, football and conspiracy theories with authorities. One of the most notable moments occurred on Von’s show when Trump became uncharacteristically animated when asking the host about his past cocaine use.
Trump’s visit to the launch pad was also the latest time Trump has participated in a high-profile photo op since the presidential election. The image reflects the evolving reality that Trump, who has always been an icon in the world of UFC and reality TV, is becoming an undeniable political figure as well as a cultural figure.
The UFC’s Smash Mouth image explains much of Trump’s political style. And now, Trump’s dance is becoming a hot topic.
His political opponents saw him shaking strangely on stage at rallies as a sign of failing cognitive health. His supporters detected humor and self-deprecation. Now, the president-elect’s double-fisted shimmy has been adopted by athletes in major league sports, who boogie Trump-style to celebrate big game wins, touchdowns, and goals. This is a headache for Republicans, who have long struggled to match Democrats when it comes to big-name celebrity endorsements.
But something more sinister is also at work. President Trump is polishing the roughest edges of an extreme image cemented by the darkest closing argument of any presidential candidate in modern history.
The president-elect, who danced around the state to Village People’s “YMCA,” promised mass deportation of illegal immigrants, lied about the results, and tried to steal the 2020 election was convicted. A felon, and who is the same person. It has long been a tactic of authoritarians to soften their image with antics and stunts to further their cult of personality and hide their more sinister goals. Perhaps coincidentally, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un often attends televised rocket launches when he wants to be seen as the father of the nation.
Like “YMCA,” another staple of the MAGA campaign trail soundtrack is Elton John’s “Rocketman.” The story involves an astronaut flying alone through space, “blowing out a fuse” in Trumpian style. The hit perhaps reflects Mr. Trump’s bright-eyed infatuation with Mr. Musk’s astonishing array of spaceships and limitless ambition.
But despite their budding friendship, it has become fashionable to speculate when Trump and Musk’s big bromance will explode itself. Given that both of them have wild personalities and need to be stars in their respective heavens, it seems difficult to form close friendships.
Trump may get more than he bargained for thanks to Musk.
For example, Mr. Musk may not be willing to pay the political price of mass layoffs, lost productivity, and failed government programs that the brutal cuts recommended by the new DOGE could cause.
Others interpreted Mr. Trump’s recent quip that he couldn’t kick Mr. Musk out of Mar-a-Lago as a sign that Mr. Trump’s welcome was fading.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday, “In the end, there’s only going to be one star of the show, and that star is going to be Donald Trump.” But he also argued that Musk is smart, innovative and inventive, and perfectly branded as the next president. “Mr. Trump campaigned on the idea of breaking with conventional wisdom,” he said.
There will be no doubt who Mr. Trump’s senior partner will be when he becomes U.S. president for the second time — even though Mr. Musk wields enormous non-state power through his wealth and businesses that penetrate deeply into national economies. is. all over the world.
Mr. Musk has also served as Mr. Trump’s power multiplier, providing another reason to retain him. After the election, the president-elect put him on a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. (Musk controls Starlink, an internet service vital to Ukraine’s military in the war with Russia that President Trump has vowed to end). And French President Emmanuel Macron, who has wisely learned the art of flattering Trump, plans to invite the 47th president and Mr. Musk to an AI summit in Paris in February.
During the early months of his first term, President Trump accused North Korean leader Kim of his tendency to fire missiles whenever he believed his pariah nation was not getting attention, saying, “Small rockets.” Man,” he scoffed.
Although hostility quickly faded and President Trump frequently spoke of how they “fell in love,” the photo-opposed summit did little to reverse North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. It didn’t help. It is too early to tell whether the bromance between Kim and Trump will resume during the next president’s second term.
In any case, Trump has acquired a new Rocket Man.
