After Elon Musk Turns on Nigel Farage, Will Donald Trump Be Next?

LONDON — The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is throwing his weight in cash around from Berlin to Washington to, now, London. Could one of his buddies, President-elect Trump, be the next in his sights?The suddenness with which Mr. Musk has cast aspersions on his seeming soulmate, Nigel Farage, a British conservative political phenomenon, raises the question of how long Trump will want to be in cahoots with Mr. Musk and his unofficial “Department of Government Efficiency.”“Trump could be next after angry Musk turns on Farage”: So reads the headline on an analysis by a British commentator, David Maddox, in the Independent. The writer reckons that the Musk-Farage fallout has disclosed “the Achilles heel of the populist right — it relies entirely on big egos and personalities.”The enormity of the bruising egos certainly was clear as the British press reported Mr. Musk’s conclusion that the leader of the up-and-coming Reform UK “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the right-leaning party against the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Starmer.Mr. Musk still supports Reform UK, but Mr. Farage’s hopes for a donation of $100 million for his campaign to unseat Labour in parliament appear to have vanished. Mr. Farage will likely have to rely on funding from elsewhere for Reform UK to form a coalition with the Conservative Party after Labour dominated elections last July, ending conservative rule.So what was the fuss about that so annoyed Mr. Musk as to turn on Mr. Farage, who seemed to be his man until a few days ago? At the center of the rift was Mr. Farage’s rejection of Mr. Musk’s call to unite with a far-right activist, Tommy Robinson, who’s serving an 18-month sentence for contempt for repeating claims, in the midst of a trial, that Asian immigrants rape and “groom” girls.Mr. Farage, having just called Mr. Musk “a hero,” took the blast against him in seeming good spirits, saying, “Well, this is a surprise,” but “on this I am afraid I disagree,” the Daily Mail reported. “Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform, and I never sell out my principles.”Not so surprising, Mr. Musk has also hit out at Labour and Mr. Starmer, saying they’ve been slow to go after South Asian immigrants responsible for “grooming” girls in their early teens for prostitution or forced marriage.Mr. Starmer denies the widespread view that he ignored or at least delayed action against predators 15 years ago in the case of a gang in a suburb of Manchester. The Mail reported that he objects strongly to Mr. Musk saying he was ”complicit” in their crimes. Mr. Starmer has claimed to be the first to go after the gang when he was the country’s top prosecutor, the Mail said.While arrests and prosecutions for “grooming” make headlines, Mr. Farage may yet overcome Mr. Musk’s reversal of support. “The split” between the two “is inevitable and welcome,” a Daily Telegraph columnist, Tim Stanley, writes. “It erupts at a turning point for Reform, when it stands on the cusp of becoming a serious party of opposition.” Mr. Farage, he said, “needs to make a stand.”Britain is not the only major European nation in which Mr.Musk is attempting to assert his influence with the confidence of an investor with funds to spare. In Germany, he supports the rightist Alternative for Germany. The German magazine Stern reports Chancellor Sholz is brushing off the challenge, saying, “I don’t believe in courting Mr. Musk’s favor. I’m happy to leave that to others.”So, will Trump eventually dump Mr. Musk? Surely not until after his inauguration, where Mr. Musk should be quite visible. But then what? The former New Jersey governor and one-time GOP presidential aspirant, Chris Christie, put it this way when asked during an ABC interview: “It ends when Trump believes that something has gone wrong, and he needs someone to blame and Musk becomes the person to blame.”

After Elon Musk Turns on Nigel Farage, Will Donald Trump Be Next?

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