Elon Musk's Cringe Behavior Around Karoline Leavitt Is Beyond Awkward

Although White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt underwent a MAGA makeover that ruined her sense of style, one can't deny that the young political official is aging like fine wine, especially compared to her much-older husband, Nicholas Riccio. Leavitt's youthful glow seemingly caught the attention of President Donald Trump's former bestie, Elon Musk, who nearly melted into a puddle in her presence.

Leavitt jumped on social media on April 29, 2025, to celebrate her 100th day in office. "The first 100 days: mom & press sec edition," she wrote in an Instagram post. The press secretary's eager effort to publicly show off her kid and some career highlights came to a screeching halt in the post's second photo. Rather than plying her supporters with cute photos of her baby son, social media users were instead dealt a major jump scare by an image of Leavitt and a painfully awkward Elon Musk. Musk, who's known for his regrettable, cringey Trump World antics and for taking naturally awkward photos, appeared crumpled up next to Leavitt, as if he were in the presence of his middle school crush, rather than a political colleague. His shoulders and fists looked painfully tensed up, and he topped off his unflattering cameo with a goofy smile more befitting of a cartoon character than the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency. If Leavitt weren't already in an age-gap relationship, we wouldn't have been surprised if Musk had channeled his inner-shy preteen and begged one of his friends to ask her out for him.

There's no doubt that Tesla CEO Elon Musk's billionaire status and self-obsession have had an adverse effect on his social skills and his ability to resonate with the general public. It seems he turns into an even greater robot when he encounters beautiful colleagues like White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

A viral YouTube clip uploaded on March 23, 2025, showed Musk glitching out behind Leavitt's impressive figure as they followed President Donald Trump onto Air Force One. The Tesla CEO particularly struggled averting his eyes from Leavitt's leather-covered posterior. After seemingly catching a couple of quick peeks, he frantically pivoted his head in nearly every direction imaginable to keep her backside out of his sight. Musk may have hoped to maintain some subtlety and go about the situation as if everything was normal, and nothing inappropriate ever went through his mind. However, his sudden reaction and conspicuous head-turns arguably drew more attention to himself. One commenter poked fun at Musk for staring directly at the sun after looking away from Leavitt. Perhaps he'd hoped to blind himself so he'd never encounter his Leavitt problem again.