Godzilla vs King Kong. Ali vs Frazier. Yankees vs. Crimson Sox. Trump vs. Musk is larger than all of them as a result of — not like the primary match — this one is actual. And in contrast to the opposite two, it has real-world penalties.
The way forward for the republic — to not point out the way forward for Tesla, SpaceX and Musk’s different cutting-edge tech corporations — may very well be at stake, relying on how dangerous all of it will get.
In fact, with this pair, they may make up whereas this column is on the printer. Musk is understood to do 180s in enterprise like most individuals breathe, and he appears open (not less than for now) to rapprochement. That’s why, after tanking throughout early rounds of the combat, Tesla shares spiked on Friday.
Trump, in the meantime, could be forgiving when he sees a chance. Keep in mind how he mocked “Little Marco,” who after a MAGA-esque transformation is now Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump wished to ban TikTok however as I used to be first to report, he’s extending its life within the US. He got here to imagine that even whether it is Chinese language spyware and adware, it helped him win a second time period.
However there’s a greater case that the Trump-Musk feud will linger. These males preserve among the largest egos on the planet; Musk really thinks he’s the explanation Trump bought elected since Elon owns X (previously Twitter), which grew to become a MAGA megaphone. If Trump like I do, somebody taking credit score for his success is a 3rd rail.
Plus, Musk isn’t a pure convert to MAGA. These dudes bonded as a result of Musk, a former Democrat, believed his social gathering misplaced its thoughts on woke. His EV maker Tesla, a darling of the environmental motion, has an enormous operation in China, the principle goal of Trump’s commerce struggle. Musk known as Peter Navarro, Trump’s lead commerce warrior, “Peter Retarrdo” as a result of Elon’s no fan of tariffs.
For his half, Trump is not any price range hawk. It’s telling that this combat began with Musk’s critique that the president’s “big, beautiful bill” spends an excessive amount of cash. It shortly uncovered different fissures lurking beneath the floor, in response to my sources, and now it has gotten messy.
No option to deal with a pal
Trump is teeing up killing all of Musk’s profitable authorities contracting after Musk outrageously — and foolishly — claimed the president is holding again the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata as a result of Trump’s within the docs in some nefarious approach.
Not a option to deal with a good friend, significantly a strong one.
All of which will get me to laying odds on the winner if this feud retains going. I say Trump is the heavy favourite. Musk has no political base, even when he splinters and begins spending his billions on Dems. Sure, some lefties are relishing the battle, however Musk won’t ever be acceptable to most Democrats for the unforgivable sin of aiding Trump, then through DOGE slicing all that authorities lefty spending.
In the meantime, Musk poses little menace to MAGA. He’s not a pure politician — he’s not even comfy in his personal pores and skin. He controls X and has an enormous following, however Trump has his personal following and social media platform that draws as a lot media consideration.
And Trump can hit him the place it hurts — his pocketbook. Musk is the world’s richest man, however totally on paper. It might diminish quick given how a lot of it’s constructed on authorities work. Recall Musk smoking a joint on Joe Rogan, which is a no-no whenever you do protection contracting as SpaceX does. I reported the way it sparked scrutiny by the feds that went nowhere. Possibly now it goes someplace.
Musk’s accounting at Tesla has drawn regulatory consideration up to now; it now would possibly get some extra. The corporate simply had a awful quarter as its lefty EV-buying base went elsewhere. Shares have recovered considerably however stay underneath strain. They fell as a lot as 16% when the feud went defcon.
Trump might go after different elements of the Musk empire. The president might throttle SpaceX’s authorities contracts, utilizing the weed difficulty as an excuse to re-examine the connection. Possibly extra of these go by the wayside together with all his different authorities contracts.
Musk is clearly miffed that Trump’s tax invoice didn’t minimize sufficient fats, however what might need actually stoked his anger is that it did take intention at numerous green-tax credit that Tesla has feasted upon. Musk’s recklessness in his assaults underscores one among his weaknesses as a CEO; he as soon as stated he had a purchaser to take it non-public at a premium however nobody emerged.
And also you marvel why the Epstein barb shouldn’t be taken critically.
The smarter transfer
Sure, Trump has lots of levers to tug to get at what makes Musk so highly effective. However right here’s why he shouldn’t: For all of Musk’s flaws, he’s good and has his finger on the heart beat of the rising financial system. Tesla’s tech is first-rate. SpaceX is transformational, and serves a big nationwide safety operate. Musk is wealthy and might proceed to elect Republicans to maintain Trump from being impeached and derailing what is de facto working in his second time period, equivalent to his struggle on woke, closing the border and, when this tariff stuff subsidies, tax cuts to develop the financial system.
And so they did make lovely music collectively exposing stuff with DOGE.
Somebody please name a timeout.
