It appears that Elon Musk has seriously overestimated his sustained popularity among his right-wing fans.

In another masterful display of cunning, the world's richest man turned coat and viciously lashed out at his former best-friend-in-chief Donald Trump this month. 

It was a very public affair, as both parties traded blows over social media — and Trump at his many press conferences — but it was Musk who came out looking worse for wear, unable to equal the president's threats, squirming at the cold indifference he was being shown. In retrospect, his mysterious black eye was a prefigurement of things to come.

And so in decidedly un-Don-Corleone fashion, the "Dogefather" all but groveled at the feet of the president this week, offering a simpering apology.

But the damage had been done. According to a new poll from the Associated Press, fewer Republicans view Musk "very favorably" compared to April, plunging from 38 percent down to 26 percent.

"Some things have happened lately that have changed how I feel about him a little," Alabama Republican Katye Long, who downgraded her view of Musk to "somewhat favorable," told the AP. "I also don't feel like he matters that much," she added. "He's not actually part of the government. He's just a rich guy who pushes his opinions." 

As far as high-profile fallouts go, this one was veritably cataclysmic. After Musk stepped down as a "special government employee," he blasted Trump's spending bill and trash-talked the president on his website, X. Trump, in turn, threatened to kill Elon's billions of dollars worth of government contracts. Musk made his own threat that he'd cut off NASA's access to SpaceX, before declaring that Trump is implicated in the unreleased Epstein files and agreeing that the president should be impeached.

"Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," Musk fumed on his website X, after Trump said he was "disappointed with Elon." 

"Such ingratitude," Musk huffed.

All the while, reports circled that the tech billionaire was heavily abusing drugs like ketamine — and to boot, incurring the unfortunate bladder issues that commonly stem from overusing the powerful anesthetic.

It's not the end of the world for Musk, though. The polls suggest that most Republicans — 64 percent — still favor him to some degree, which is three points lower than April. 

He remains extremely unpopular among Democrats, however, though the repulsion he inspires among this base has slightly ebbed. In April, 74 percent of Democrats harbored a very negative view of Musk, but that share has now fallen to 65 percent. 

That may be a consequence of his diminished role in government since April; last month he finally left his role as a top advisor to Trump.

In sum, in the AP's analysis, the intensity of the public's attitude towards Musk has shifted somewhat, but the overall opinions haven't. 

Musk has become an incredibly polarizing figure over the past several years, over the course of which he has expressed increasingly far-right views. He ensured the alienation of his traditionally liberal fans by endorsing Trump last summer and funding his campaign to the tune of some $300 million. 

Post-inauguration, Musk led his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, where he oversaw the firing of tens of thousands of federal employees, the slashing over 100 billion dollars of federal spending — including cuts to foreign aid and research grants at the National Institutes of Health — and tampering with Social Security.

Most damning for Musk's bottom line: the backlash has blown back on his businesses, too. Tesla's popularity has plummeted in lockstep with its drying-up sales, and according to the recent poll, only 32 percent of US adults view his automaker very or somewhat favorably. That's far worse than any other brand; General Motors, which isn't exactly a PR darling, boasts a 60 percent favorable view.

The irony is that Musk's courting of the right has seemingly done little to win over new devotees to the Tesla brand, with nearly a third of Republicans — 30 percent — having an unfavorable opinion of the EV company, while Democrats stand at 66 percent. If his master plan was eventually getting both sides to hate him equally, then we'd say he's finally starting to do a bang-up job.

More on Elon Musk: Elon's Explosion at Trump Appears to Have Cost Him a HUGE Deal


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