Some Trump administration officials have nicknamed DOGE leader Elon Musk ‘Crazy Uncle Elon,’ while others have joked that he should have to take a drug test.
Rolling Stone was out with a piece Thursday detailing what some White House insiders really think of the billionaire who’s been sand-blasting the federal government since January – and creating political problems too.
One word that came up was ‘annoying.’
‘I have been in the same room with Elon, and he always tries to be funny. And he’s not funny. Like, at all,’ a senior Trump administration official told the magazine. ‘He makes these jokes and little asides and smiles and then looks almost hurt if you don’t lap up his humor.
‘I keep using the word “annoying,”‘ the official continued. ‘A lot of people who have to deal with him do. But the word doesn’t do the situation justice. Elon just thinks he’s smarter than everyone else in the room and acts like it, even when it’s clear he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’
Among those really annoyed at Musk: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who previously ran for president and served in the Senate since 2011.
Three sources told Rolling Stone that Rubio ‘hasn’t hidden his disdain for Musk,’ while others at the State Department were the ones who came up with the ‘Crazy Uncle Elon’ nickname.
The New York Times had previously reported on a Cabinet meeting clash between Musk and Rubio last month.
Rolling Stone was out with a piece Thursday detailing what some White House insiders really think of billionaire Elon Musk who’s been sand-blasting the federal government since January. Musk attended a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon
Elon Musk sported a Cheesehead during a campaign rally last month in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His candidate ended up losing to the liberal judge by 10 points. Trump White House insiders have described him as ‘annoying’
At one point, after Musk had tried to shame Rubio for not firing enough of his staff, the former Florida senator shot back and asked if he should rehire the people who had taken the voluntary retirement package – just so he could make a show of firing them again.
Rubio also bristled at Musk for shuttering the United States Agency for International Development – which as a senator Rubio had vouched for.
‘Talking to the guy is sometimes like listening to really rusty nails on a chalkboard,’ another senior Trump official told Rolling Stone. ‘He’s just the most irritating person I’ve ever had to deal with, and that is saying something.’
Musk has tested the patience of so many Trump officials that sources told Rolling Stone that aides have walked out of meetings ‘and earnestly asked one another if they thought Musk was high.’
The Tesla, SpaceX and X head has been open about using prescription ketamine to treat depression.
‘There are times when I have sort of a … negative chemical state in my brain, like depression I guess, or depression that’s not linked to any negative news, and ketamine is helpful for getting one out of the negative frame of mind,’ Musk told CNN’s Don Lemon last March.
He added that he gets the drug from ‘an actual, real doctor’ and uses ‘a small mount once every other week or something like that.’
Two months before his sit-down with Lemon, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms at private parties and publicly had smoked pot.
Elon Musk (left) holds a chainsaw gifted to him by Argentine President Javier Milei (right) at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. Some audience members speculated that Musk was high since he was wearing sunglasses indoors
In his interview with Lemon, Musk said he didn’t ‘know how to smoke pot.’
He didn’t respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
When he appeared onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, wielding a chainsaw gifted to him by Argentinian President Javier Milei and sporting sunglasses, audience members speculated he was high.
The Journal story noted that illegal drug use could jeopardize Musk’s contracts with the federal government.
Now as a ‘special government employee,’ Musk has said it would be a ‘great idea’ for federal employees to be drug-tested.
But a lawyer for Musk told Rolling Stone that he was ‘regularly and randomly drug-tested at SpaceX and has never failed a test.’
