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Lord Sugar has hit out at Elon Musk’s chances of success working alongside Donald Trump.
Trump and Musk have become close in recent months, with the tech billionaire hired by the president-elect to co-head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
Office space has been reserved for Musk in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is located right next to the White House, which means that Musk is likely to continue to have prominent access to Trump after he’s inaugurated on Monday (20 January).
This has led many to question Musk’s heightened role within the Trump administration, with Trump being faced with taunts over who will really be running the show.
Sugar’s view on Musk’s chances, though, were less than positive, with The Apprentice star stating: “Let him try and do it.”
The business tycoon, who has been an “enterprise tsar” to governments since 2016, told The Times: “When I tried to identify inefficiency all I got was aggro and I couldn’t change anything. Too many people saying, ‘Oh no, you can’t do that.’ But my problems were minute compared to what Musk is up against in America.”
Sugar also suggested the Tesla founder and X/Twitter owner won’t be successful in the role as “he’s all talk”.
“He is undoubtedly a brilliant man but he shoots his mouth off. He’s going to get a bloody nose.
“Musk might be glued to Trump now but I reckon Donald will give him the elbow after the inauguration. He’ll want to make clear: ‘I am the president.’”
Musk donated hundreds of millions to aid Trump during the election campaign, and has often been seen with the president-elect since his victory. He has been part of transition meetings and taken part in at least one foreign call.
However, it’s been claimed that Trump has been complaining about his Musk behind closed doors.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said on a new podcast: “Musk has been a major donor to Trump this campaign cycle and he’s sort of tied into various areas around Trump which makes things more complicated.”
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Sugar’s comments arrive days after Cameron Diaz taunted Trump with a surprising claim about Musk.
In a video released by Complex, Diaz, who has come out of acting retirement for the firsat time in eight years with a role in Netflix film Back in Action, was asked to share her favourite conspiracy theory by her co-star Jamie Foxx.
Talking about the fact she believes we will one day be living on Mars, Diaz said: “And we all know that we’re moving off the planet because now Elon Musk is our president.”
Foxx appeared visibly shocked by the comment.
