So sorry, Elon Musk, but the bromance is not going to last. I know the President-elect put you on the phone with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine the night after the election. And I know that in Donald Trump's victory speech, after obligatory but abbreviated nods to his "beautiful wife," his "amazing children" and his "feisty" Vice President-elect, he celebrated your super-genius as only he could, in a disjointed, discombobulated, wildly overextended paean and declaration of love.
"Oh, let me tell you, we have a new star," he said. "A star is born, Elon." Yet therein lies your problem, Musk.
There's room for only one star, one genius in the Trump White House. As the President-elect has told us time and again, he is one smart fellow and a "very stable genius". Trump is not going to share his victory and centre stage with anyone.
And why should he? What more would you have to offer, having spent in excess of US$100 million to help secure his election? Trump may be mercurial, but in this situation he is highly unlikely to break historical precedent. I predict that you will probably join the long list of genius businessmen donors who were casually discarded after they had served their purpose. Andrew Carnegie, who was at the time, just like you, the richest man in the world, was a stalwart and generous contributor to the Republican presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
Carnegie naturally assumed that he would, in return for his support and in recognition of h.