Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been virtually joined at the hip since the president-elect’s election victory two weeks ago.
The Tesla billionaire has accompanied Mr Trump for family meals at his home in Florida, travelled with him to a meeting with congressional Republicans in Washington, and watched a UFC fight in New York with him.
But their most recent outing, at the launch of Mr Musk’s SpaceX rocket on Tuesday, appeared more than a little awkward for the two men.
The president-elect looked like a “fish out of water” and appeared to be intimidated by Mr Musk during the Starship test flight, according to Darren Stanton, a former police officer and body language expert.
Mr Trump has long exuded an alpha male persona, and in his first term in the White House was known for offering a handshake to world leaders before violently jerking them off-balance.
But the traditional Trump power gestures seemed to be absent on Tuesday as he waited for lift-off from a viewing platform a short distance away from the SpaceX launch pad in Texas.
As Mr Musk gestured across to Starship, which at some 400-foot tall is the largest rocket ever built, the Republican buttoned up his jacket before checking each of his pockets, which Mr Stanton said suggested he was “a little intimidated”.
“It’s very rare that we see Trump do these self reassurance gestures,” he told The Telegraph.
“He was playing with his pockets, but he didn’t put his hands in his pockets… it’s the anxiety of not knowing what to do with your hands.”
Mr Trump did not perform any of the gestures he typically uses to assert himself, such as his “accordion hand” or placing his fingers together to form a “steeple”. The only other figure with whom the president-elect is so submissive is Vladimir Putin, Mr Stanton believes.
Mr Musk, who voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and Joe Biden in 2020, endorsed Mr Trump in June and ploughed an estimated $200 million into his re-election campaign.
Throughout their interactions on Tuesday, Mr Trump kept his arms hanging limply at his side: an act of anxiety and awkwardness, according to Mr Stanton.
“Trump was very uneasy… usually he comes over as this alpha male, the most empowered, most powerful person in the room. I think he’s quite intimidated by Musk,” he said. “He was out of his depth – his hands were just by his side like a mannequin.”
When Mr Musk spoke, it was with his palms open and arms outstretched in a display of openness and confidence.
By contrast, Mr Trump, who looked out of his element despite his trademark “Make America Great Again” cap, kept his hands down and nodded stiffly.
At one point, when the group on the viewing platform had a photo taken, Mr Musk took up his position in front of the president-elect and struck a pose, assertively placing his hands on his hips.
Fresh off his decisive win over Kamala Harris this month, Mr Trump brought a entourage with him to the Starship launch including Bill Hagerty, his former ambassador to Japan.
But Mr Hagerty, a long-time ally of Mr Trump, appeared engrossed as he talked with Mr Musk while the president-election turned awkwardly between them.
Mr Stanton said that the two men were mirroring each other’s body language and had developed a rapport, while the president-elect was “out of the loop of the conversation”.
“If you’ve got three people that are in rapport with each other, they’ll form like a triad, whereas, basically Trump was just facing forward… not knowing quite how to intervene,” he said.
Mr Musk is reported to have had a stand-up row at a Mar-a-Lago dinner with Boris Epshteyn, a member of the Republican’s legal team, whom he apparently blamed for nominating unqualified figures to government positions.
Those present described it as a “massive blow-up” and “huge explosion”.
There is also speculation of clashes down the line with figures who are more hawkish on immigration than Mr Musk, such as Stephen Miller, the architect of the “Muslim ban” in Mr Trump’s first term.
One insider told NBC News this week that Mr Musk was “behaving as if he’s a co-president” and “taking lots of credit for the president’s victory”.
“He’s trying to make President Trump feel indebted to him. And the president is indebted to no one,” they added.
It is clear however that Mr Musk is not having everything his own way.
He publicly pushed Mr Trump to appoint Howard Lutnick, the former head of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, as Treasury secretary – only for the president-elect to name him Commerce secretary.
Mr Trump reportedly soured on his selection as a result of the infighting among Mr Lutnick and others whose names had been floated in connection with the job.
While the transition team claimed Mr Trump and Mr Musk are “great friends and brilliant leaders”, it marked the first clear breach between the two men.
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