Has King Trump lost his jester?

The most important man in the palace of King Donald Trump looks set to leave the court. According to several media outlets, the President has told both his inner circle and the wider cabinet that Elon Musk will be stepping back in the coming weeks from his role in dismantling major parts of the federal government.

There were obvious difficulties and time constraints from the outset when Musk started running the new Department for Government Efficiency. A person can only serve as a “special government employee” for a period of 130 days each year – time that is dwindling fast, as we approach the 100-day mark of Trump’s second term. There are also strict rules around conflicts of interests, of which Musk risks having many given all his business operations. This was always going to be a time-limited role: not just because the rules say so, but because Musk has plenty else going on that, at some point, his shareholders might like him to return to.

But could there be another explanation? It would be far juicier to say there’s been a fallout or major rift in the court. But the evidence suggests another possibility. Musk, intentionally or not, has taken on the historical role of the “jester” in Trump’s court. It’s a sensational, attention-grabbing role. But it can only last for so long – especially when the king tires from someone else dominating the spotlight.

Musk has played plenty of roles for Trump so far: the fixer, the donor – and the sponge for public frustration and media abuse. With all eyes on DoGE the past few months, it’s Musk whose brand has (literally) been set on fire. The cuts, or rather axes, taken to public spending have been attributed to the world’s richest man and his team. Trump has seemingly been supportive, but at a notable arm’s length.

This has made Musk the center of attention at a time of significant, and nerve-wracking, change. That makes him a political celebrity. But it has also risked making him, in historic terms, “the fool” of the court. 

“A remarkable thing happens in the experience of my fools: from them not only true things, but even sharp reproaches, will be listened to; so that a statement which, if it came from a wise man’s mouth, might be a capital offense, coming from a fool gives rise to incredible delight.” So said philosopher Desiderius Erasmus in his book In Praise of Folly. Dare I say, it applies now: Musk has been the one to speak truth to bureaucrats, say out loud how much the government is spending, take on the bold and outrageous position that most elected officials could never stomach. And for a while, he had special license from the President to break the rules, to mock everything and everybody (here’s looking at the UK Prime Minister). 

In the gold-plated halls of Mar-a-Lago, where the chandeliers sparkle almost as brightly as the fake tan, Trump has clearly been enjoying Musk’s show: entertaining him in both the Oval Office and under the palm trees in Florida, escorting him and his family onto his helicopters and jets, showing Musk off to the press on a frequent basis. Musk has been no ordinary jester: he’s been given incredible power to rewrite the rules of government.

But he has still played the role in full: in just 74 days, Musk has caused international disputes on X, been revealed to have fathered more children, worn cheese hats, burnt millions on failed Wisconsin judicial campaigns, been put into a trance with silverware and fired the only guy with the key to the bathroom in Yosemite National Park. And let’s not forget the time he spent hours flogging Tesla cars on the front lawn of the palace. “The true art of the court jester,” whispered a royal watcher, “is making people laugh while picking their pockets.”

This was never sustainable. The fool has to exit stage left at some point. But what Musk will have achieved in the meantime will put many of the senior members of the court to shame.