Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk’s influence over President-elect Donald Trump had a “self-life.”
Co-host Jonathan Karl said, “You know what it’s like to be part of Donald Trump’s inner circle. You were in the inner circle from 2016 through 2020, but I want to ask you about Musk. He’s practically moved into Mar-a-Lago. My first question to you is, this is the wealthiest guy in the world. What is in it for him? Why has he become so attached to Trump?”
Christie said, “It’s hard for folks to understand how intoxicating this can be for some people, but for Elon Musk, he doesn’t stand in front of 20,000 people and have them chant his name no matter how rich he is, which is what was happening to him on the campaign trail.”
Karl said, “How much influence does he really have on Trump? How much is he steering what Trump is doing?”
Christie said, “In the beginning, anybody who plays this role for Trump, and you can go through the last eight years, Jon, and there have been different people who played this exact role for Trump. It’s different because it’s Elon Musk, but when you initially begin in that role, you have enormous influence, and he loves having you around and he loves listening to you, and you’re the best thing in the world. It will always decline, and that’s what happens, and you’ll see it. It’ll happen with Elon Musk, too. I used to say this to General Kelly when he first became chief of staff. Today, you’re trading at one hundred cents on the dollar. You’ll trade at zero. The question is how long it will take.”
Karl said, “That’s the question everybody is asking: how long does Musk last?”
Christie said, “It ends when Trump believes that something has gone wrong, and he needs someone to blame, and Musk becomes the person to blame, and no one knows how long that will take.”
Christie concluded, “The people who sit at the very center with Trump have a shelf life, and that shelf life is influenced by outside events.”
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