By Gill Bikram Singh 
A heated exchange took place between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and billionaire adviser Elon Musk during a high-level cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday. This incident exposed the deep differences within the Trump administration. This altercation took place when President Donald Trump was present with his cabinet and eventually he himself had to intervene.
According to the New York Times report, this tension had been building up for several weeks, but it took an explosive turn when a heated debate took place between the two in the presence of President Donald Trump. In fact, Musk has been a strong supporter of a huge cut in government spending and he accused Rubio of not making enough layoffs in his department. Musk taunted, “You did not fire anyone.” Musk called the State Department “unnecessarily big.”
To this, Rubio retorted that 1,500 employees from his department have already taken voluntary retirement (buyout). He sarcastically asked Musk if he wanted to re-employ these people so that they could be fired for show. But Musk seemed dissatisfied with this explanation.
Trump in support of his foreign minister
According to reports, the debate went on for quite some time, after which Trump intervened. Trump defended Rubio, saying that he is doing a “great job” and has a lot of responsibilities. This was Trump’s indication that Musk’s over-aggressive policies can now be curbed. On the other hand, Musk took a dig at Rubio, saying that he is “good on TV.” Musk meant that his ability is limited to showmanship only.
Trump, while talking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, dismissed the reports of this incident, saying, “There was no confrontation, I was there. You are just playing a prank. Alan and Marco get along very well and both are doing a great job.” He further said, “Marco has done an incredible job as a foreign minister and Alan is a unique person who has made a great contribution.” President Trump announced after the meeting that from now on, the Cabinet Secretary will lead the process of spending cuts, while Musk and his team will only play the role of advisors. This decision was the first major sign of limiting Musk’s growing hold on the administration.