Trump, Musk, and the Big Beautiful Breakup

TOI correspondent from Washington: The epic war between the world's richest man and the world's most powerful man kept America -- and the world -- enthralled on Friday as attempts to bring about a truce between Elon Musk and Donald Trump failed.

There was a brief prospect of reconciliation on Thursday night as mutual friends tried to patch things up after Musk ratcheted up his attacks on the President, linking Trump to the pedophile Epstein. “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” he posted on X.

Trump ignored the charge but he responded to the broader issue of their falling out, saying he had asked Musk to leave the White House because he was ‘wearing thin,’ and he (Musk) went "crazy" because the administration took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that "nobody else wanted."

Things went further south when the President posted, "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” That triggered Musk to warn that he would decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, critical for NASA’s International Space Station operations, a threat he later retracted.

Amid the heated, real-time exchanges on social media, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman got in a word edgewise, asking the warring duo to reunite "for the benefit of our great country." Musk responded, "You're not wrong," and reportedly sought a Trump phone call, which the President rejected on Friday, characterizing Musk as the "man who has lost his mind." Officials though warned the President could change his mind.

Chances of a truce appeared to have been derailed by Musk himself after he mused about the President's political mortality in the hours before, telling social media gadabout Laura Loomer that "Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years…"

This came after he tried to talk up JD Vance for the Oval Office following a Trump impeachment proposed by some critics. But the US vice-president smacked down the idea, saying, "President Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I'm proud to stand beside him." Several GOP lawmakers rallied around Trump saying Musk had "gone too far" in the feud.

Musk also posted a poll on X asking, "Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?" There were more than 5 million responses, with more than 80 percent saying "yes."

A variety of other characters waded into the drama, offering millions of political junkies a constant high. While Ackman and other billionaires and tech bros sought to keep a lid on the explosion, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and other MAGA hardliners, who see Musk as an interloper, poured gasoline on the fumes, demanding Trump seize's Musk's SpaceX invoking national security provisions and deport Musk, although the South Africa born Tesla boss is now a US citizen.

A current Trump advisor Peter Navarro, among many in the President's inner circle happy with the departure of the man some called a "co-President," said Musk was just “a special government employee with an expiration date.” Russia too stepped into the American swamp, offering Musk political asylum if his feud with Trump went further south.

Some of the feuding bordered on the petulant, with several media outlets reporting that Trump now plans to sell the red Tesla S that he bought with great fanfare after celebrating Musk and his cars on the White House lawns just a few weeks ago. The banner headline in the NewYork Post said it all: I HATE MY X.