Final week, President Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt was requested a seemingly easy query concerning the White Home costume code.
A reporter identified that administration officers have been “miffed” that the Ukrainian chief, Volodymyr Zelensky, had not worn a swimsuit to the Oval Workplace. And but, the reporter stated: “Elon Musk by no means wears a swimsuit in there. So what’s the costume code?”
As with all issues in Washington, this was actually a query about energy.
Mr. Musk flexes his by dressing down the place all others should costume up. He wears his “tech help” T-shirt round city and to conferences with the president.
So when the tech mogul wore a swimsuit and tie twice final week, similar to another working stiff in Washington, it appeared like an indication that perhaps among the outdated guidelines of this place — and those about vogue and etiquette are among the many oldest — have been instantly being utilized to this most particular of presidency staff.
One way or the other when Mr. Musk places on a pleasant swimsuit, it has a manner of wanting like a demotion.
There is no such thing as a doubt that he and Mr. Trump are nonetheless on this journey collectively — the president even posted on social media on Tuesday that he was shopping for a Tesla — however final week issues started to vary a bit for Mr. Musk. Cupboard secretaries began to face as much as him. Mr. Trump stated he must use a “scalpel” as a substitute of a “hatchet” to make authorities cuts. Republicans lawmakers on Capitol Hill began to fret about him.
Ms. Leavitt stated in her briefing that when Mr. Musk placed on a swimsuit for the president’s deal with to Congress, “I believe the president appreciated that very a lot.” He wore one once more two days later for the second assembly of the cupboard. (He had worn the “tech help” T-shirt to the primary one and joked about the way in which he was dressed).
Fits are not any small factor for Donald Trump. His father, an actual property developer, wore one every single day, even on visits to building websites. The son ultimately did the identical. And now his three sons (even the teenage one) favor fits and tie their ties in the identical thick-knotted manner as their father.
Mr. Musk is essentially a creature of Silicon Valley, a scene that initiated a complete revolution in energy dressing. The younger masters of that universe dressed down to indicate that they have been members of a brand new elite — one which refused to decorate just like the grown-ups they have been about to topple. It was the defeat of the swimsuit by the T-shirt.
However Washington stays the one city greater than another wherein folks nonetheless put on fits and ties. That’s why it’s peculiar to see Mr. Musk swimsuit up now: He’s in the end dressing up because the very factor he has come right here to destroy — the gray-suited bureaucrat.
“Possibly he felt underdressed,” stated Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally whose sentence on seven felonies was commuted by the president in 2020.
Mr. Stone, a famous clotheshorse, revealed a e-book of his life’s classes referred to as “Stone’s Guidelines: Methods to Win at Politics, Enterprise, and Model.” One of many guidelines states that “in case you are engaged in any enterprise or career, you might be more likely to succeed in case you are effectively dressed than in case you are badly dressed.”
He stated he appreciated seeing Mr. Musk all dressed up. “I assumed he regarded nice,” stated Mr. Stone. “However I doubt you’ll see him carrying one every single day. It’s not his type.”
Does Mr. Stone suspect that the president is concerned by Mr. Musk’s type? “I can’t speculate about that,” he demurred.
It at all times appeared onerous to imagine that, of all folks, Mr. Trump was OK with Mr. Musk dressing the way in which he does.
The president is nearly by no means seen not carrying a full Brioni swimsuit and tie (until he’s on certainly one of his golf programs). Throughout his first time period in workplace, he yelled at his unique press secretary Sean Spicer about his selection of swimsuit.
Mr. Trump as soon as had his personal line of fits (they have been bought at Macy’s) and wrote in certainly one of his books that “the way in which we costume says so much about us earlier than we ever say a phrase.”
“To me, dressing efficiently means understanding your setting: realizing the tradition and making an effort to mirror and respect it.”
So how is it that the identical man who wrote that would enable his most empowered deputy to decorate like a goth mall rat in crucial office on the planet?
There gave the impression to be a uncommon second final month when Mr. Trump appeared just a little bothered by Mr. Musk’s type, when the 2 males sat side-by-side for an interview on Fox Information.
Every wore their respective uniforms: a swimsuit and a T-shirt.
“He’s obtained some very good folks working for him,” Mr. Trump stated in Mr. Musk’s protection. And but, these very good folks handle to “costume a lot worse than him, really.”
“You wouldn’t know that they’ve an I.Q. of 180,” the president added.
