Alex Lederman and Nomia Iqbal

BBC News, in Erie, Pennsylvania

Watch: How Americans feel about Elon Musk’s government role

Seated around a breakfast table in Erie, Pennsylvania, four veterans in their mid-80s – John, Jack, Bob and Don – gather to reminisce about their decades of friendship.

But it is another Don, this one in his late 70s, who keeps creeping into their conversation: President Donald Trump.

Of the four, only Bob voted for Trump. But after seeing Elon Musk standing next to the Republican president in the Oval Office this week, defending his efforts to slash the size and spending of the federal