After Musk and Trump trade barbs and insults, a thaw in tensions might be brewing -- but fightin' words can leave bruises that are slow to heal and last for years

(Digital Mom Blog) 

 

A feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, which detonated in real time yesterday on social media, showed signs of being patched up -- at least a little bit -- last night, according to an article at Axios. Under the headline "Trump-Musk feud shows signs of thawing," Rebecca Falconer examines the tensions that surfaced during much of the day, before a truce appeared to be forming in the evening:

President Trump and Elon Musk struck more conciliatory tones on Thursday night, hours after their feud ignited and then escalated over social media.

The big picture: After a day that was marked by Trump threatening to cancel billions of dollars of government contracts with Musk's companies and the world's richest person calling for the president's impeachment, there are signs that tensions between them might be easing.

Driving the news: White House aides scheduled a call between the pair for Friday, per Politico, which spoke briefly to Trump in a Thursday night phone interview.

Trump sought to reassure the outlet about their relationship during the brief phone call, per Politico. "Oh it's okay," he said when asked about the fallout. "It's going very well, never done better."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News' "Hannity" Thursday evening that the focus of the president and his administration was "on passing the one big, beautiful bill," which Musk called a "disgusting abomination" in the lead-up to his online clash with Trump.

Leavitt noted to Fox News' Sean Hannity that last Friday, "the president graciously hosted Elon Musk in the Oval Office and Elon thanked the president for his incredible leadership to cut waste, fraud and abuse in our government, which this one big, beautiful bill does."

She added: "So the only difference between Friday and today is Elon went back to his companies. And, as a businessman, he has a right to speak for his companies. But as president, President Trump has a responsibility to fight for this country."

Meanwhile, Musk appeared to walk back an earlier threat he made on X to decommission the Dragon spacecraft, which is essential to NASA's operation.

That came after Trump had fired this missile:

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. 

Here is another missile from Trump:

Elon was "wearing thin." I asked him to leave, I took away his EV mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!) and he just went CRAZY!

Musk was quick to return fire, on a subject that is likely touchy in Trump World:

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!

Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.

Under the headline "The ugliest things Trump and Musk just said about one another," CNN's Aaron Blake wrote that it was hard to see how the two would get past the spitballs they had tossed around:

It was the kind of clash many predicted would eventually arrive when the two powerful, outspoken and unwieldy billionaires formed their alliance of convenience last year. And it’s now arrived in a big way.

Late Thursday afternoon, Musk responded to an X user who chose Musk over Trump and called for the president’s impeachment by simply saying, “Yes.”

It’s increasingly hard to see how this spat gets resolved without getting even uglier, given what’s being said. . . .

Trump claimed he would have won the crucial state of Pennsylvania even without Musk’s help. But Musk, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars and campaigned for Trump, shot back that he was in fact the reason Trump won the presidency.

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk said.

Musk then added in another post: “Such ingratitude.” 

While a thaw in the tension seemed to be brewing, Blake was not convinced it would hold:

Musk seemed to put to rest any illusions that this somehow isn’t devolving into a power struggle.

Responding to an X user who noted lawmakers are feeling pressured to pick a side, Musk made a case for them picking him.

“Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years,” Musk wrote.

In other words: Tread carefully. I have lots of money – and time. . . .

It remains to be seen where things go from here. Trump often reconciles with allies, even after ugly things are said.

But rarely is the other figure someone as powerful and outspoken as Musk. The power dynamics are usually such that the other party feels pressured to cave to Trump.

Musk suggests he’s ready for that power struggle. If he is, buckle up.