Mother Jones; Brandon Bell/Getty
After a public wrestling match that featured ugly insults and Jeffrey Epstein accusations, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk appear to have dialed down their fury in time for the weekend.
But tensions still simmer. Late Friday, Musk, one of the Republican Party’s biggest donors, once again backed the idea of a new political party to represent what he described as the “80 percent in the middle.” He also continued to post a string of attacks against the president’s sweeping tax and spending bill, signaling that the billionaire had no intention of dropping the very criticism that prompted the feud to break out in public this week. Meanwhile, Trump on Friday was still defending himself from Musk’s explosive allegation that the president is named in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The social media activity on both sides signalled that the fighting was far from over. What happens next is anyone’s guess. But like any high-profile divorce that takes a vicious turn, I imagine that the parties involved are using this relative quiet to weigh more nuclear options, including the cancellation of Musk’s government contracts. Trump suggested so himself. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” the president posted on Truth Social. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it.” If carried out, my colleague Jeremy Schulman argues, the move would likely be illegal and a direct threat to democracy.
Trump clearly has the upper hand in this nasty spectacle. But even with Musk as MAGA-pariah, DOGE is clocking in critical wins that many warn will have profound consequences for everyday Americans and their most sensitive personal information: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Musk’s team to gain access to Social Security information. A separate order issued on Friday also protected DOGE from having to answer freedom of information requests.
So, the current score between Trump v. Musk? America loses, again.