Dem
47
GOP
53
It took a while to arrange the second Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier rematch, but everyone knew it would happen eventually, which gave the world the Thrilla in Manila. It took rather less time for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to descend into open warfare, but everyone knew it would happen eventually, and now it has.
We already wrote about the tensions between the (former) co-presidents earlier this week, and we really didn't expect to address it again, since the two men are both blowhards who often blurt out whatever notion comes into their heads. In other words, where's the news? But, boy howdy, we did not anticipate that it would turn this ugly this fast, thus becoming headline fodder around the world.
The ostensible source of their disagreement is the big, beautiful budget bill, which will increase, and arguably even explode, the deficit, and with it the national debt. This obviously runs contrary to what Musk claimed he was doing at DOGE. It is probable the South African is also unhappy with the cuts to electric vehicle subsidies. There's also surely an underlying "this country isn't big enough for the two of us" dynamic, since both men love the spotlight, hate sharing it, and see the other as a rival for the title of "alpha dog." Anyhow, here's a play-by-play of yesterday's pissing contest:
To quote Ron Burgundy: "Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast."
Of course, he who lives by the social media—and both of these men certainly do—dies by the social media. We don't like to overdo it on these meme roundups, and we just did one about a week ago, but... it really gives a sense of the zeitgeist. So, here's a baker's dozen of some of the biting memes that were making the rounds yesterday (thanks to reader S.K. in Los Angeles, CA, for assisting):
All-Purpose: The Cybertruck can be made to work for nearly any meme-worthy occasion. It's just an added bonus when the meme-worthy occasion actually involves Elon Musk.
Buyer's Remorse: Trump's worst purchase since he bought Trump International Hotel in Washington?
Let's Go to the Movies: We would have gone with Fatal Attraction.
One for the Kiddies: To understand this one, you have to know that the photo that Musk's head has been photoshopped onto is of musician Kendrick Lamar, who has recently gotten in the habit of accusing fellow musician Drake of being a pedophile.
One for the Historians: And to understand THIS one, you have to know that the original photos show Joseph Stalin, and Nikolai Yezhov, the head of the Soviet police who conducted a campaign of terror for a couple of years. Eventually, Stalin accused Yezhov of treason, had him executed, and then had him disappeared from all photos in which the two men appeared together.
The Internet Is Forever: People often come to regret things they tweeted in the past. And folks around the world have been combing through Musk's old tweets to make sure he's in that group.
About that "Straight Man" Part...: There are dozens of variants of this basic observation out there right now (emphasis on "out").
Foreign Affairs, Part I: This was not created in response to this particular incident, but found new life yesterday.
Foreign Affairs, Part II: This one, on the other hand, WAS created this week.
Lady Liberty: There are dozens of popcorn memes. This one is particularly popular (and people are also circulating the opening shot of the Michael Jackson 'Thriller' video).
You Say Tomato...: Not necessarily the bipartisanship one would hope for.
A Song of Ice and Fire: It's remarkable how relevant Game of Thrones is to the current administration. You might even call it an allegory.
And Finally...: This IS the most important question, after all.
In short, the world (or, at least, the online world) is watching... and enjoying.
That is not to say that everyone is enjoying the show, however. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) knows very well that he's got a hothead in the White House who often does much damage with one ill-considered tweet. So, Johnson has worked hard to cultivate a warm relationship with Trump, in hopes of stopping that from happening (at least, with House business). Now, the Speaker has a second hothead who can do damage, and that hothead just so happens to be opposed to the budget bill that Johnson just shepherded through the House with virtually no votes to spare, and that he will have to try to get through the House again once the Senate takes a meat cleaver to it. So, the Louisianan is currently beside himself.
Meanwhile, there are certainly Republicans in both chambers who are happy to have a budget-hawk champion who is making a lot of noise and taking all the flak. However, they are also hoping this squabble doesn't go on for TOO long, and doesn't turn into TOO much of a hot war. They do not want to choose between the guy who has hundreds of billions of dollars and a social-media flamethrower and the guy who has the bully pulpit and no qualms about going after a member he deems to be "disloyal."
For the Democrats, by contrast, things are a little easier. They can sit back and enjoy the show, of course. Beyond that, while there are some folks out there suggesting the Democrats should reach out to the South African and try to bring him (back) into the tent (we wrote about two of them on Monday), it really doesn't make much sense. Yesterday, a quartet of writers for The Bulwark wrote a piece headlined "Dear Dems, Don't Welcome Elon Back," in which they point out that he's very unpopular, he's not at all aligned with the blue team on policy, and, oh yeah, he's a fascist and a racist. To that, we would add a few things: (1) He's too mercurial a basket to put your eggs in, (2) He's useless when it comes to verbal/moral persuasion, and as Wisconsin showed, his money doesn't actually help all that much; (3) the Democrats are trying to differentiate themselves from the Republicans right now, and hugging Musk close is NOT the way to do that; (4) the Democrats are going to get most of the benefit of his temper tantrums whether he's inside or outside their tent; and (5) oh yeah, he's a fascist and a racist.
Our guess is that, as much as people are enjoying this particular catfight, it won't last, and Trump and Musk will eventually reach some form of uneasy truce. Trump really doesn't need an external X-factor (or eX-Twitter factor) creating trouble during an already difficult budget fight. Plus, Trump has been known to use private DMs on Twitter to communicate various things, and so who knows what dirt Musk might have in his back pocket. Musk, for his part, really cannot afford to lose those government contracts. Plus, he's taking a huge hit in the wallet right now, because of his now-rocky relationship with the administration. Since Musk began carping about the budget bill, Tesla shares have fallen 16%, which is a loss of about $34 billion for him. Almost $27 billion of that was lost just yesterday.
Incidentally, we considered the possibility that Musk and Trump—both well-known wrestling fans—are just putting on a little kayfabe for the masses. But we just can't make sense of that possibility. They're not clever enough to pull it off, we think, and their egos definitely can't handle a heel turn, no matter how brief it might be. Plus, would Musk take an 11-figure hit for benefit of political theater? Finally, what would be the benefit of such a show? It just doesn't add up, so we dismissed the possibility. That said, we mention it in case readers can make it make sense.
While we are at it, we will also note there is a squabble underway on the other side of the aisle, as well, though it's not getting even a tenth of the attention. Karine Jean-Pierre, who served as White House Press Secretary for almost 3 years of Joe Biden's presidency, announced this week that she's left the Democratic Party and re-registered as an independent. In response, several other Biden White House insiders badmouthed her and her work as press secretary. For example, Tim Wu, who was a senior policy adviser, sent a tweet (later deleted) in which he wrote: "From WH policy staff perspective, the real problem with Karine Jean-Pierre was that she was kinda dumb. No interest in understanding harder topics. Just gave random incoherent answers on policy." Another person, who chose to remain unnamed, said Jean-Pierre was "One of the most ineffectual and unprepared people I've ever worked with."
The media cannot resist a good "Democrats in disarray" story, so it's no surprise that they're devoting some of their (non-Musk-Trump feud) column inches to this. But our reaction when we first heard the news, and our reaction still, is: Who cares? First, she was a relatively low-level member of the Biden administration. If one of his Cabinet secretaries jumped ship, THAT might be worth paying attention to. Second, the difference between "registered independent" and "registered Democrat" is a pretty thin one, especially since Jean-Pierre reportedly now resides in Virginia, which is an open primary state. If she said she was planning to vote MAGA in the next election, that would be meaningful, but she did not say that. Third, and finally, Jean-Pierre used this news to also tell people that she just so happens to have a book coming out about her time in the White House. That means that we're not exactly talking about a heartfelt, come to Jesus moment here. More like a "How can I maximize my odds of getting on the NYT Best Sellers list?" moment. Anyhow, it's political news, so we pass it on, but again, we don't assign much significance to it. (Z)