New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan appeared Friday on MS NOW's 'Morning Joe' to discuss details from their new book, 'Regime Change,' sharing anecdotes about tech tycoons' relationships with President Donald Trump, including a harsh observation about Elon Musk.
Musk's Destabilizing Role
Haberman attributed some of the chaos in the White House to Musk, saying the government 'never quite recovered' from his short-lived tenure running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 'You had Elon Musk — and we get into this in great detail [in the book] — essentially serving not as a co-president but as a co-president for parts of the first four months or so,' Haberman said. 'And that created so much destabilization of this government that I think they also never quite recovered.'
Musk became a 'special government employee' shortly after Trump's second term began, likely due to his campaign donations, and attended Cabinet meetings and Oval Office press conferences. During his stint, he fired hundreds of thousands of federal workers and gutted funding for medical research, school lunch initiatives, national parks, and other programs. Musk's dominance, which included sleepovers that first lady Melania Trump disliked, began to fade in April 2025.
Tech Rivals' Groveling
Swan described how Musk enjoyed watching rivals Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg 'sucking up' to Trump. Trump showed Musk texts from Bezos and Zuckerberg, to which Musk responded: 'First-class groveling.' Swan shared a story about Zuckerberg having dinner at Mar-a-Lago when Trump played 'The Star-Spangled Banner' from his iPad. 'But it was not the normal version of Star Spangled Banner,' Swan said. 'It was the version recorded by the J6 Prison Choir. So, Zuckerberg stands up, hand on the chest, you know, he doesn't know what this thing is … and it's the version recorded by people who were imprisoned for their role in the Jan. 6 riot.'
Reaction to the Anecdote
'Morning Joe' co-host Mika Brzezinski expressed disgust at the anecdote. 'I'm still stuck on the grotesque scene of the J6 choir music playing, hand on hearts,' she said. Haberman and Swan's book provides further details on these interactions.
