For former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, the answer is pretty simple. The main difference maker was Elon Musk. “Elon and I disagree on some things, but Elon deserves his place at the table,” Bannon recently told Puck.

Musk has been refusing to leave the president-elect’s side ever since he poured an estimated $200 million into pro-Trump Super PACs and ran his field operations in key swing states. As thanks, Trump appointed him co-head, together with Vivek Ramaswamy, of an outside panel called DOGE that will advise the government on spending cuts.