JD Vance Lumps Himself In With Trump As A 'Friend' Of Elon Musk (But He Isn't Fooling Anyone)

Vice President JD Vance has essentially played second fiddle to billionaire Elon Musk during the first few months of Donald Trump's presidency, and it seems like he's trying to jump on the Musk bandwagon while there's still time. Despite what has seemed like a real lack of warmth between the VP and the Tesla CEO, Vance recently stressed the importance of Musk's efforts and his friendship during an interview with Fox News.

"Elon came in and we said, 'We need you to make government more efficient, we need you to shrink the incredible vast bureaucracy,'" Vance told Fox News in April. "And we said, 'That's gonna take about six months,' and that's what Elon signed up for. But of course he's going to continue to be an advisor ... The work of Elon is not even close to done. Fundamentally, Elon is going to remain a friend and an advisor to both me and the president, and he's done a lot of good things."

Vance's efforts to buddy up with Musk come after Trump has spent the last several months hitching himself to Musk's wagon repeatedly. Trump and Musk's close connection have made people wonder if Vance is even a player in the president's inner circle. However, it seems Vance is more interested in appeasing Trump and playing nice with the world's richest man — even if Musk's time at the White House is limited.

Elon Musk's status as a special government employee means his employment can only last 130 days out of the year. Depending on how you define certain terms, this means his involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE, can only last until sometime between May and June. Even Trump recently said that Musk "has a big company to run" and has to get back to his own day job at some point. "I'd keep him as long as I could keep him," Trump expressed on April 1 (via Axios).

Throughout Trump's campaign and the start of his second term, Musk has noticeably wormed his way into the inner circle. While it seemed as though Vance got the last laugh when Trump revealed that Musk's DOGE office wouldn't be near the oval office, Musk hasn't stopped that from getting to Trump and weighing in on numerous political decisions, much to Vance's chagrin.

Politico reports that unnamed Trump insiders revealed that the president is satisfied with the massive cuts DOGE has helped to implement and Musk's work with the organization. However, Musk and Trump have reportedly mutually decided that Musk has other obligations, including his multiple businesses and even more numerous children. Only time will tell if Musk's departure will give JD Vance an opportunity to do more in his largely sidelined role as vice president.