Why Trump's Chief Of Staff Susie Wiles Reportedly Can't Stand Elon Musk

Elon Musk's involvement in Donald Trump's second administration has annoyed a number of people, and if one rumor is to be believed, the president's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is among the not-so-thrilled. According to sources in the know, she wasn't particularly impressed by Musk's penchant for emails and X, previously Twitter, posts, and, at times, that made for some serious tension. 

The first clue of strained relations between the two came just over a week after the inauguration when The Times reported that Wiles had shut down his plans to have an office in the West Wing. The same report also made mention of the fact that Wiles had a strict stance against "people who want to work solo or be a star." Roughly two weeks later, an insider told NBC News of Musk, "It has been reiterated to him in many ways that, yes, he reports to the chief of staff." The week after that, another hint of trouble in Trumpland came in the form of a Reuters report. This time, sources said Wiles had voiced her concerns over a lack of communications ahead of things like Musk's emails to federal employees, asking for progress reports. "They're definitely finding things out on Twitter," one insider said, with another sharing that Wiles specifically requested that Musk contact her and the rest of the team prior to posting anything going forward. 

Of course, there were some who claimed that the SpaceX founder and the chief of staff weren't feuding, per se. "There is some frustration, but it's overblown to say it's a rift," one source told Reuters — and given that Trump himself has joked about Wiles' ability to switch from friendly to "brutal," we'd count that as a major win for Musk. Even so, it's possible she's played a role in his stepping back. 

It certainly seems as though Elon Musk worked overtime to get back in Susie Wiles' good books after the initial reports of tension. After all, in March 2025, he and the White House chief of staff looked incredibly cheerful together as they walked to a waiting helicopter — and Musk even offered to carry her backpack for the Paula Deen lookalike, who seemed to be walking with a slight limp at the time. Naturally, the video of their friendly interaction went viral, with many a Musk stan taking to X to gush over the gesture. However, the dead giveaway that Musk was trying to impress Wiles was his own response. "I'm a big fan of Susie Wiles," he wrote. 

Unfortunately for Musk, that might not have been enough. According to insiders who spoke with Politico in early April 2025, Donald Trump had already started planning for Musk's exit. Granted, that's not to say Trump's friendship with Musk had taken a hit or that Wiles was particularly furious with him, either. Au contraire, one source told Politico, "They think he's a genius, but he's a one-man wrecking ball." Well, if anything is going to end a professional relationship, being seen as a force of destruction would probably be it. It probably didn't help that, in addition to the DOGE chaos, as Tim Walz's cutting disses have so helpfully documented, Tesla's share price has taken a serious dip since the founder's involvement in the Trump administration. 

Between Tesla's woes and the DOGE controversy, the insider comments to Politico proved to be true, with Musk confirming that he would be taking a step back in late April. While Wiles probably isn't rubbing her hands with glee — she's likely breathing a sigh of relief.