Kara Swisher has predicted a battle between tech billionaire Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump in which only one man will remain standing.
Musk played a major role in Trump‘s campaign, from his America PAC to his X rants, with his support culminating in rumors of a promotion to Trump’s cabinet.
Swisher, however, judged that both men saw themselves as the head honcho, and that this belief would lead to a major dissolution of their relationship, with Trump inevitably coming out on top.
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“I’m gonna repeat my assertion about Elon Musk and Donald Trump. One of my favorite movies is Highlander, and ‘there can be only one,’” she said on The Chris Wallace Show on Saturday, quoting a line from the film.
“And that‘s gonna be Donald Trump. And I think we’ll see what happens in the wake of that.”
After sharing her ominous vision, Swisher then spoke more widely about Musk’s power in the tech industry.
“Another thing was the tech CEOs—more than anyone—really bent the knee right after the election in talking about how much they’d love to cooperate, largely because they’re scared of Elon’s influence and they want to have influence of their own.
“Particularly Jeff Bezos, who was extremely obsequious in a way that wasn’t surprising to me.”
Host Chris Wallace agreed: “You know, on this issue of ‘there can only be one.’ I’ll never forget in the first Trump term, Time magazine put out a cover—and there it was in year one, several months in—Steve Bannon on the cover of Time magazine. And I remember thinking, ‘The boss is not gonna like that.’"
Wallace then called attention to a recent Axios article about Musk, and suggested that the seeds of discontent may already be sown.
“The Axios newsletter this week had this story calling Elon Musk the most powerful unelected man ever. Trump does not like to share the spotlight," he said.
Swisher doubled down on her theory, and concurred with the idea that it was a fight for attention and power–rather than potential philosophical differences–that would drive the spat.
“In comparison of the need for attention between Bannon and Musk, Bannon looks like a kitty cat. Elon needs a lot of attention, and Trump will be irritated by that,” she concluded.
