When the most influential politician and the richest individual engage in a knock-down, drag-out confrontation, what follows?
The world is learning; it is not a nice picture. Two of the largest megaphones are owned by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who have lately turned them on each other after a dispute has erupted into a battle of words.
Trump has endangered Musk’s extensive commercial contacts with the federal government, which provide the lifeblood for his SpaceX project.
“Termination of Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts will help us to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars,” Trump said menacingly on his own social media page.
Should Trump use government machinery against Musk, the tech billionaire will suffer. On Thursday, Tesla’s shares dropped fourteen percent.
Still, it’s not a one-way street. Following that encounter, Musk demanded Trump’s impeachment, dared him to stop funding for his businesses, and refuted claims he was hastening the decommissioning of his Dragon spacecraft, which the US depends on to transport American astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.
Musk has almost infinite resources to react, including financing grassroots challenges to Republicans in the elections and primaries of next year. And late on Thursday afternoon, he claimed to be dropping the “really big bomb,” implying without proof that Trump shows up in unreleased records on late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, responded simply with a mild refutation of Musk’s charges and claims.
“This is a sad episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill since it does not include the policies he wanted,” she remarked.
Though Musk might not defeat Trump’s entire government, he could exact a heavy political and personal cost for Trump and the Republicans.
Perhaps aware of this, Trump seemed to cool the heat a little by the end of the day, avoiding mentioning Musk during a public appearance at a White House police appreciation event and tweeting Truth Social saying he didn’t mind “turning against him” but wishes he had quit government service months ago. Then he turned to emphasize his “big, beautiful” tax and expenditure law.
It’s hard to see an easy walk-down following Thursday’s heat, though.
