Was Trump and Musk’s epic bromance doomed from the start?

Whether Elon Musk and President of the United States wind up back at Mar-a-Lago holding court or remain permanently on the outer, their bust-up reveals a lot about power, politics and the state of US ­finances.

President Donald Trump speaks with Elon Musk at the White House in March. Picture: AFP

It’s the social media fight heard ‘round the world, but what does it all mean?

The sudden eruption between US President Donald Trump and SpaceX/Tesla/X billionaire Elon Musk came out of the blue, and may wind up vanishing just as quickly.

Indeed, by Friday afternoon there were already hints that a peace deal was in the works, leading to speculation that the whole thing was a set-up designed to advance some other goal.

But whether Elon and the president wind up back at Mar-a-Lago holding court or remain permanently on the outer, the story reveals a lot about power, politics and the state of US ­finances.

Here are five key takeaways from the fight.

Musk started it.

This is an important point for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that Donald Trump’s personality often sees him pick fights with perceived foes, rather than the other way around.

But this was different.

Whatever happened behind closed doors, in public Musk fired up first.

Upset that the president’s “big, beautiful” spending bill working its way through Congress doesn’t do enough to tackle spending and prevent the US from drowning in debt, Musk launched a series of attacks on the legislation over the past week, calling it among other things “a disgusting abomination”.

Somewhat out of character, it was only after several days that Trump started to hit back, leading to speculation the entire blow-up was somehow orchestrated.

How the New York Post cover it on their June 6 front page.

No, Trump is not in the Epstein files.

Of all Musk’s tweets, it was the one claiming that “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files” and that this “is the real reason they have not been made public” is the nuttiest.

Everyone, but particularly giddy Trump haters, need to stop and think logically about this.

If true, it would mean the combined forces of the Democratic Party, the Biden White House, and countless law enforcement and intelligence agencies tried to impeach Trump (twice), throw him in jail, seize his businesses, take him off the ballot, and wipe his presence from social media … knew Trump had an Epstein problem but somehow sat on it until now?

And, while Trump and Epstein moved in the same circles for a while, Epstein was eventually barred from Trump’s exclusive Mar-a-Lago club for hitting on the teenage daughter of another member.

Sorry, not buying it.

President Donald Trump with Elon Musk and his son in the White House. Picture: AFP

Democrats, be careful what you wish for.

As the Musk-Trump feud rolled on Friday, some bright spark in the official Democratic Party’s social media team tweeted to their 2.3 million followers: “KILL THE BILL AND RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.”

A little while later the same account asked: “What is Trump hiding? Release the Epstein files”.

Just putting it out there, but maybe there’s a reason why these files – the subject of much speculation for years – were never dropped for those whole four years when the Democrats held the White House?

Elon Musk carries his son as they arrives on Air Force One with President Donald Trump at Miami International Airport in April. Picture: AP Photo

America is in a lot of financial trouble.

Imagine that Musk had stuck to rockets and cars. Imagine that Trump wasn’t president and that either Kamala Harris or some more mainstream Republican – Florida governor Ron DeSantis, let’s say – was occupying the White House.

According to the Trump White House, their spending bill includes US$1.7 trillion in mandatory savings.

According to Musk, the bill will “massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion.”

Either way, the bill barely touches the sides.

The US national debt currently sits around US$36 trillion.

And it’s growing at around $400 billion a month.

Borrowing caps – essentially Congress’s own self imposed credit limit – keep getting lifted every time the government comes close to maxing out (something that will happen, on current numbers, sometime between mid-July and October).

For all the hopeful talk around DOGE, the trillions of dollars in savings that need to be made haven’t been, in no small part because entitlements like Social Security make up such a large portion of the budget.

With or without Trump or Musk on the scene, this slow motion crisis would still exist, leading to the danger of default, hyperinflation – and the American dollar’s loss of reserve currency status.

Power is more important than profits.

It’s not often that you see the world’s richest man and the world’s most powerful man square off.

So far, the indications are that Trump – who understands power more than most – is winning. Part of the reason Trump infuriates the Left is that he understands power in a way that people on the right rarely do.

And, despite Musk’s opposition to Trump’s spending bill, Republicans do not appear to have split.

The Hill, which is the trade paper for Washington’s political and lobbying class, reported Friday that “out of a nearly dozen Republican Capitol Hill offices … almost none had gotten any calls from (Republican)-supporting constituents opposing the bill by the afternoon after the Musk post”.

Originally published as Was Trump and Musk’s epic bromance doomed from the start?