Musk and Trump put on lovefest in Sean Hannity interview | CPT PPP Coverage

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Donald Trump and his wealthiest backer, the multi-billionaire Elon Musk, expressed gushing admiration for each other in a Fox News interview in which each accused a critical media of trying to drive them apart.

Interviewed together in the White House, the pair spoke of each other in such warm terms that the interviewer, Sean Hannity, was moved to say: “I feel like I’m interviewing two brothers here.”

The united front was maintained to reject accusations that Musk’s so-called “department of government of efficiency” (Doge) – which has upended huge swathes of the federal bureaucracy in a supposed attempted to find “waste, fraud and corruption” – is a violation of the US constitution, saying their critics were themselves guilty of this.

They also dismissed complaints that Musk, who has billions of dollars of government contracts through his ownership of companies such as SpaceX and Tesla, had serious conflicts of interest that could lead him to skew federal spending in his favour.

Asked by Hannity how he would respond if he saw a conflict, Trump said: “He wouldn’t be involved.” Musk followed up by saying: “I’ll recuse myself. I mean, I haven’t asked the president for anything, ever.”

The interview was aired after a chorus of criticism of Musk’s prominent role in Trump’s administration and suggestions from critics that he was usurping the president’s power, earning the appellation of “President Musk” in some quarters, including the cover of Time magazine.

Amid speculation of incipient tensions supposedly fueled by Trump’s known dislike of sharing the limelight, the pair went to great lengths to show personal fealty to each other.

“I love the president, I just want to be clear about that,” Musk said. “I think President Trump is a good man. The president has been so unfairly attacked in the media, it’s really outrageous.”

Trump described Musk in equally flattering terms, several times describing him as “caring” and “amazing” before delivering a soaring personal testimonial near the end of the interview.

“This guy’s a brilliant guy. He’s a great guy. He’s got tremendous and scientific imagination,” the president said, as Musk sat by his side. “But he’s also a good person. He’s a very good person, and he wants to see the country do well.”

He said Musk, who described himself as “tech support” to the president, had been of practical value in ensuring that the avalanche of executive orders signed by Trump since his inauguration on 20 January were implemented – although many of them have been subjected to legal challenges and been blocked by court rulings.

Musk had also brought “high IQ” young people to his Doge team who were dedicated to changing the country, Trump said.

The pair mocked media speculation that their partnership was destined to end in an acrimonious split.

“Actually, Elon called me and said, you know, they’re trying to drive us apart.,” Trump said. He went on: “Now they said: ‘We have breaking news. Donald Trump has ceded control of the presidency to Elon Musk.’ And I say it’s just so obvious, so bad. I used to think they were good at it. They’re actually bad at it because if they were good at it, I’d never be president – because nobody in history has ever got more bad publicity than I’ve had.”

He predicted that Musk would be able to cut$1tn of government spending, but added that it would only be a small percentage of the waste and fraud that existed. Key programs such as social security, Medicare and Medicaid, would remain untouched, he insisted – except in cases where they went to “illegal migrants”. (Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for such benefits).