Last week, President Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked a seemingly simple question about the White House dress code.
A reporter pointed out that administration officials were “miffed” that the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, had not worn a suit to the Oval Office. And yet, the reporter said: “Elon Musk never wears a suit in there. So what is the dress code?”
As with all things in Washington, this was really a question about power.
Mr. Musk flexes his by dressing down where all others must dress up. He wears his “tech support” T-shirt around town and to meetings with the president.
So when the tech mogul wore a suit and tie twice last week, just like any other working stiff in Washington, it seemed like a sign that maybe some of the old rules of this place — and the ones about fashion and etiquette are among the oldest — were suddenly being applied to this most special of government employees.
Somehow when Mr. Musk puts on a nice suit, it has a way of looking like a demotion.
There is no doubt that he and Mr. Trump are still on this ride together — the president even posted on social media on Tuesday that he was buying a Tesla — but last week things began to change a bit for Mr. Musk. Cabinet secretaries started to stand up to him. Mr. Trump said he would have to use a “scalpel” instead of a “hatchet” to make government cuts. Republicans lawmakers on Capitol Hill started to worry about him.
Ms. Leavitt said in her briefing that when Mr. Musk put on a suit for the president’s address to Congress, “I think the president liked that very much.” He wore one again two days later for the second meeting of the cabinet. (He had worn the “tech support” T-shirt to the first one and joked about the way he was dressed).