There’s an old proverb: “There is no honor among thieves.” I believe it is meant to warn that alliances built on self-interest rarely survive when power, money, or ego is at stake. In public policy, we’ve seen this play out time and again—especially in spaces where opportunism, not principle, is the glue holding coalitions together. When the winds shift, so do the loyalties. 

On June 3, 2025, Donald Trump hosted Elon Musk at the White House for what was billed as a celebration of partnership, innovation, and campaign support. Musk, one of the largest donors to Trump’s recent presidential campaign, was handed a golden key emblazoned with the White House insignia—a dramatic performance of loyalty between two men with outsized influence and even bigger egos.

But just 72 hours later, that alliance combusted—spectacularly and very publicly.

Trump, furious over Musk’s criticism of the Republican domestic policy megabill—the Orwellian-named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”—lashed out on social media. “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’” Trump wrote, adding, “I took away his EV Mandate… and he just went CRAZY!” In a single breath, Trump threatened to revoke tens of billions of dollars in government contracts and subsidies for Musk’s companies, Tesla and SpaceX. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget… is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”

Musk, never one to shy away from a digital battle, fired back hard. He accused Trump of being listed in the unreleased Epstein files. “Time to drop the really big bomb: [Trump] is in the Epstein files,” Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter. “That is the real reason they have not been made public.” Musk then called for Trump’s impeachment, announced that SpaceX would begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft “immediately,” and shared posts suggesting Trump was ungrateful and dishonest. “Such ingratitude,” Musk seethed.

The bromance was over. The mutual self-interest that had held the alliance together had shattered—revealing not just personal betrayal, but the deeper fragility of transactional power.

This is what happens when opportunism masquerades as loyalty. When alliances are forged not around shared principles, but shared enemies and political expediency.

And nowhere is this dynamic more evident than in the house of education reform.

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Fractured Coalitions: Charter vs. Private School Collisions

For decades, the movement to privatize education formed a seemingly united front around “school choice.” Charter school advocates, private school voucher supporters, billionaire philanthropists, and anti-union policymakers rallied together under the banner of “choice.” Their shared enemy was public education—especially teachers’ unions.

But unity built on opportunism always has an expiration date.

Today, that once-powerful coalition is splintering. Charter school networks and voucher proponents are turning on one another in increasingly public spats. The friction boils down to a familiar struggle: who gets the money, who gets the credit, and who escapes the scrutiny?

Charter school leaders, once vocal voucher allies, are now raising alarms. They worry that vouchers for private religious schools siphon resources from public charters. Vouchers mean fewer dollars for their networks, fewer headlines, and less control. Some charters are also under increasing scrutiny for academic underperformance, pushing them into competition—not collaboration—with their privatization peers.

It’s the Trump–Musk feud in miniature: once the common target is gone, so is the shared civility. Opportunism doesn’t scale. It combusts.

And in education, it often burns the most vulnerable in the process.

Case Study: The Voucher War in Texas

Texas offers a live example of this opportunism in real time.

Governor Greg Abbott, once cheered by the charter and voucher crowd, pushed a sweeping school voucher bill again in 2025. He probably expected his usual allies—education privatizers, conservative think tanks, and charter operators—to back him.

But some prominent charter leaders balked.

They realized the new voucher system would channel public dollars to elite private academies with zero accountability, leaving charters to fight over shrinking budgets. They broke ranks. They lobbied against the bill. They went to war with their former allies.

The bill failed in 2023 but succeed in 2025. It is likely that the reform alliance will fracture even further.

Again: when resources get tight and principles were never shared, opportunism eats itself.

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When the Brand Breaks: The Teach For America Downfall

Another tale of fractured alliances comes from Teach For America (TFA), once hailed as a vanguard of education reform. In its early years, TFA enjoyed bipartisan acclaim and mountains of philanthropic support. But behind the polished brochures and glossy branding, internal contradictions festered.

As racial justice and equity took center stage in education discourse, TFA tried to straddle both sides of the ideological divide. The CEOs of the organization issued public statements in support of DEI. While quietly courting conservative donors and legislatures who opposed it. The organization denounced systemic racism. While partnering in states with groups actively undermining public education in communities of color.

We discussed this extensively on our podcast Truth for America.

The eventual result? Decline.

TFA’s staff retention cratered and layoffs abounded. Alumni penned scathing critiques. Districts and communities that once welcomed the org with open arms began to question its motives. Today, many see TFA not as an agent of change, but as a compromised brand stuck between its original mission and the politics of self-preservation.

Just like Musk and Trump, TFA stayed in a marriage of convenience long after the love—or legitimacy—had gone.

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Philanthropy Without Principles: Billionaire-Backed Whiplash

If there’s a unifying thread in all these fractured relationships, it’s money—particularly billionaire money.

The Gates Foundation. The Walton Family Foundation. Eli Broad. Betsy DeVos. Billions have flowed into education reform over the last 25 years, funding everything from Common Core to charter schools to standardized testing and data dashboards.

But those dollars come with a price: obedience.

When your survival depends on funders, your compass often points toward their priorities. And when those funders shift course—as they inevitably do—so too does the mission. We’ve seen it repeatedly. Communities whiplashed by strategy changes they never asked for. Educators left to implement reforms they didn’t design. And schools transformed into experiments for someone else’s ideology.

It’s Trump and Musk again: two billionaires using each other as long as it suits their goals—until one pulls the plug and leaves the other holding the bag.

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Fractured Empires: The Fall of Top-Down Reformers

Beneath all of this lies a deeper structural truth: reform built on control rather than collaboration always collapses.

In education, we’ve seen this play out through Top-Down superintendents who push through unpopular policies without community input. We’ve seen it in charter CEOs who silence dissent by firing teachers who question their methods. We’ve seen it in state takeovers where bureaucrats install politically connected outsiders to run districts—often into the ground.

The strategy is always the same: centralize power, ignore feedback, enforce compliance.

But eventually, people push back.

Teachers unionize. Parents organize. Students protest. Community members run for school board. And the empire starts to crack from within.

Because you can’t silence a community forever. And you can’t build lasting education reform without their consent—or their voice.

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The Final Word: Learn From the Implosions

So what’s the alternative? We stop mistaking power for purpose. We stop elevating alliances built in green rooms and boardrooms over the voices of educators, students, and families. We stop accepting short-term wins funded by long-term compromises.

The Trump–Musk feud is entertaining for some, sobering for others. But for those of us who care deeply about education, it’s also instructive. It reminds us what happens when power is performative. When loyalty is for sale. When alliances are built on applause, not accountability. Education reform has had too many of those alliances—and they’ve left too much damage. It’s time to stop making excuses for movements that lose their compass the moment their funders shift course and eventually fail over the long term. It’s time to stop elevating ideology over proven results, platforms over people. Let’s build our education future on that.

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