.png)
8 hours ago
1
The task of deconstructing the internal manoeuvrings of the leadership of the Soviet Union was once regarded as little short of a science such was the paucity of information. Today, the court of Donald Trump is perhaps no less enigmatic – but for quite different reasons. Trumpologists trying to keep up with the machinations of the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and its sympathisers in Britain are faced with a torrent of information via social media posts and podcast rants. Sworn enemies today can easily be the closest of conspirators tomorrow. Steve Bannon has let it be known that he intends to bring down fellow Trump acolyte Elon Musk in time for inauguration day (with days to go). It is no easy task to make sense of it all but here is what we know of the current feuds and rivalries in the Maga ecosystem:
Donald Trump v Steve Bannon
He was said to be the Trump-whisperer. The best talent in politics, according to the president at the start of his first term in the White House. Bannon, executive chair of Breitbart, the anti-establishment website, was flying high. Until he wasn’t. After the author Michael Wolff portrayed Trump as being an erratic charlatan reliant on Bannon’s brains, the president’s all-powerful chief strategist was suddenly “Sloppy Steve”. It probably didn’t help that Bannon also described the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, as “dumb as a brick”.
“He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job,” Trump tweeted of Wolff’s book, Fire and Fury. “Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!” It might be supposed that this would be the last word in that relationship. But, that’s not how the Maga world operates. After serving a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress for defying multiple subpoenas surrounding the investigation into the events of 6 January 2021, Bannon resumed his role as Trump’s faithful cheerleader and the two are said to be close again. But there are other big characters on the scene these days, not least the latest “first buddy”, Elon Musk.
Steve Bannon v Elon Musk
“He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy,” said Bannon of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and the joint head of Trump’s new department of government efficiency. “I made it my personal thing to take this guy down. Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it – I’m not prepared to tolerate it any more. I will have Elon Musk run out of here by inauguration day”. The cause of the rift between these two Maga egos is said to be Musk’s support for H-1B visas, which allow companies – such as Musk’s own SpaceX and Tesla – to hire skilled professionals and engineers from outside the US. Bannon professes to regard these visas as an attempt by “tech overlords” to game the system. The hard-core Maga constituency catered to by Bannon’s War Room podcast is wary of the big tech tie-up. It also feels a tad personal. “He [Musk] should go back to South Africa,” Bannon said of the billionaire who was born in Pretoria. “Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on Earth, white South Africans … making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?”
Elon Musk v Nigel Farage
Musk is yet to comment on Bannon’s declaration of war. He is perhaps too busy stirring up trouble in Britain. After triggering a national debate on the scandal over the failure of the police and local authorities to tackle child abuse by men of Pakistani-heritage, Musk was unimpressed by the response of Nigel Farage, the long-standing champion of Brexit who leads Reform, the new party on the right of British politics. Farage had described Musk’s erstwhile support for his party as “cool”. But he then had the temerity to distance himself from the X owners’s appreciation for the life and works of Tommy Robinson, the convicted fraudster and anti-Islam rabble-rouser whose criminality is seen by Farage as a potentially dangerous contaminant for his own brand. Robinson is serving an 18-month sentence in prison for contempt of court. He has a string of other convictions to his name, including for violence. Farage didn’t agree with Musk’s portrayal of him as a political prisoner and said as much. Musk tweeted: “The Reform party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”
Nigel Farage v Tommy Robinson
It had all looked to be going swimmingly for Nigel Farage at the end of 2024. There had been talk, albeit rather overdone insiders say, of a sizeable donation from Musk to Reform. Farage’s famously good relationship with Donald Trump looked set to reap dividends once again. What could go wrong? Well, plenty. Farage has spent a career trying, and all too often failing, to keep his brand clear of the sort of street violence to which Robinson’s name is synonymous. Farage has said that Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is “not what we need” as Reform attempts to become a party of government. The problem for Farage is that Robinson has some powerful fans in Trumpian circles. As well as the backing of Musk, Robinson has been described as a “hero” by Bannon, who was standing next to a gurning Liz Truss at the time.
Susie Wiles v Ron Desantis
“This guy really hates you,” Trump reportedly observed of the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, to Susie Wiles, the woman who is set to become the first female chief of staff in the White House. Wiles helped DeSantis in his 2018 gubernatorial campaign but the two had a major falling out soon after. Perhaps uniquely this is one Maga personality clash that has not been chronicled in real time on social media. But it appears that DeSantis sought to have Wiles banished after coming to the conclusion that she had been undermining him behind the scenes. Before the 2020 election, Trump ignored the governor’s objections to hire Wiles to run his campaign in Florida, as she had in 2016. She stayed loyal to Trump over the last four years and was lauded by the president-elect on election night for her role in securing his victory over Kamala Harris. She has described working with DeSantis, who dropped out of the race to be the Republican presidential nominee to back Trump last January, as the “biggest mistake” of her career.
Dominic Cummings v Donald Trump
Trump backed Brexit. Dominic Cummings, the brains behind the Vote Leave campaign who was later Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser in Downing Street, spoke out recently in support of the president-elect’s pick for defence secretary, the Fox News host Pete Hegseth. An “inspired choice who will purge the [Diversity, equality and inclusivity] insanity and rebuild forces!” Cummings tweeted. It might then be assumed that all is sweet between Trump and Cummings. Not so fast. Only three years ago, Cummings, a self-styled disruptor, was appealing for cash from Silicon Valley billionaires to fund an attempt to stop the “comic-horror sequel” of a second Trump presidency. “His insecurities mean he can’t face his lack of skills and trust/empower anyone to build the team to run the administration for him,” he said at the time. Cummings also has little time for Nigel Farage, leading to delicious but unlikely speculation that he has been advising Musk on his recent British interventions. Cummings has let it be known that he has not spoken to or met Musk. Yet.
Melania Trump v Ivanka Trump
“My approach to building relationships with Donald’s children has always been grounded in love and respect,” Melania wrote in her recent autobiography. That said, she also suggested that her husband had been attracted by her capacity for “in-depth conversations”. In her own memoir, Stephanie Winston Wolkoffa, a former friend and aide to Melania, described seething tensions between the first lady and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, during the first term. Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, were referred to as “snakes” by Melania, because “they’ll do anything to get what they want”, it was claimed. Meanwhile, Melania was said to have approved seating arrangements for the first inauguration platform that would keep her step-daughter off camera. Melania has rejected the allegations as “misleading and malicious rumours”.
Boris Epshteyn v Elon Musk
Boris Epshteyn, a long-standing legal adviser to Trump, may have left his role in the White House communications office in 2017 over what was described as an issue with his security clearance, but he was one of the most powerful figures in the early days of the latest presidential transition. Things went slightly awry following allegations that Epshteyn had asked potential administration nominees to pay monthly consulting fees in exchange for lobbying on their behalf at Mar-a-Lago. The claims are denied. Musk is said to have been one of those put out by Epshteyn’s outsized influence in the inner Trump circle. Reports emerged in November of a “massive blow-up” between the two men. Neither have commented.
