Trump's Ego Takes Center Stage At Elon Musk's Farewell Press Conference (Are We Surprised?)

We've seen Donald Trump put himself front and center in situations that aren't really about him, like when Trump shared an AI photo of himself as pope shortly after Pope Francis died, or when Trump used his commencement speech at the University of Alabama to brag about being president. Therefore, during his press conference on May 30 with Elon Musk, which was ostensibly to commemorate Musk's last day as a special government employee, it wasn't a shock to see that he started it off by making it all about him. As Musk stood next to him (sporting a black eye), Trump shared a CNBC report by Rick Santelli about personal income being up 8/10 of a percent, which was higher than anticipated.

Santelli also noted how much it seemed like "this administration is criticized for just about everything under the sun," and that Trump deserved more credit for positive things, via The White House. Trump literally had someone place a laptop on his desk to play the clip for the assembled reporters, and he nodded along with the parts he agreed with as he appeared to frame himself as a victim of unwarranted criticism.

One person on X (formerly known as Twitter) said about the start of the press conference, "Trump is like your senile grandpa who wants to show you propaganda videos." Another commented, "What a bizarre display. Trump is a narcissist to the fullest extent."

After Donald Trump patted himself on the back, much of the rest of the White House press conference did seem to focus on Elon Musk and his time with the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE, a department Musk invented and led until now, has aggressively cut government programs and jobs, including some regulators who were investigating his companies, like SpaceX.

Musk and DOGE have been some of the things about Trump's administration that people have criticized. Though it seemed for a while that Musk and Trump were on the same page, recently Musk has talked about how he felt put upon by the Trump administration, feeling that he was blamed for problems with which he had nothing to do. As another sign that the bromance between Musk and Trump is well and truly over, Musk has said that he'll be rethinking how much he spends on politics. Musk spent over $250 million to support Trump and other Republican candidates in the last election.

Musk's time in the government earned him quite the professional backlash, perhaps most notably with his company, Tesla. From Europe to Australia to North America, Tesla sales have been down, with Musk's government work and connection to Trump getting much of the blame.