In a new report in Mediaite, sources claim that Donald Trump is showing all the signs of being “over” his relationship with Elon Musk. I don’t know if I’d characterize it that way quite yet, but it does look like the two men may be surveying the mess they’ve made so far.

One of the insiders quoted in the publication said “100 percent Trump is annoyed. There’s a Chinese saying: ‘Two tigers cannot live on one mountaintop.'” It used to be that Trump was the sole arbiter of who got “punished” by this administration, with all of his talk about retaliation against his detractors and the prosecutors who came after him during and after his first term.

Now Musk is over on X, his social media platform, arbitrating the crap out of his own naysayers and anyone who disagrees with him. That HAS to make Donald furious, given that he doesn’t get to just strip away the news’ “verified” badge or premium status for calling him names.

From the Mediaite piece:

Within the transition, the civil war that erupted online last week sparked a reminder of the importance of discretion. On Sunday, Susie Wiles, Trump’s pick for White House chief of staff, sent a transition-wide memo on social media use.

In the memo, Wiles forbade members of the incoming administration and transition from making any comments on social media without prior approval from the incoming White House counsel.

But technically, Elon Musk isn’t part of the administration. Trump put him in charge of an informal agency that everyone is pretending is a US “Department,” like the Interior or Education. But DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, is tasked with finding money that the US could stop spending.

It was apparent days ago that Trump was at least somewhat put off by the public perception of him much power Elon Musk is getting for his $150 million (plus unlimited online advertising on X) investment. He felt the need to address the crowd as though they were the specific ones that were saying that Musk was the “real” president.

He told them Musk could never take his job, because he wasn’t born in America. But he CLEARLY had more to say than that. The insiders were quick to reference it:

“There was likely an allure to it in the beginning but it seemed like it could go ugly,” said one Trump insider of the alliance between the president-elect and Musk. “Trump is Trump. I think it’s just the way Trump is. Someone that is around that much and having influence would be a bother.”

He went on: “I mean the guy came in, gave a boatload of money, and wants to take over the place. [He may not have] bad intentions … [but] you also can’t just inject a shadow president somewhere.”

Others are sure that Trump will assert himself soon:

“The media is portraying [Elon] as a co-president. Musk is a character actor. There is only one executive producer, one lead in this TV show, and that is Trump. Elon will have his role, his focuses, but he is meant to disrupt the status quo in Washington and Trump is weaponizing him. The only one to move the MAGA movement is Trump. Elon will be able to amplify the message.”

One way or the other, however, everyone seems to agree that all the money in the world won’t protect Elon Musk if Trump does sour on him a little. “Unless you’re family, you’re not family,” they said.