CNN's Kevin Liptak revealed the high stakes embedded in the "catty" feud between president Donald Trump and his former ally Elon Musk.
The pair traded insults Thursday in an escalating grudge match on social media after Trump spoke out against Musk's criticism of the Republican budget bill he wants passed, and the senior White House correspondent gave an update Friday morning on their dispute and its impact on Senate negotiations.
"It's hard to believe that it was only one week ago today that Trump was presenting, with great fanfare, a giant gold key to the White House to Elon Musk," Liptak said. "Not sure where that key ended up, but things could not be any more different today, and I think the question is whether this is now irreparable differences."
The reporter highlighted Musk's tweet about Trump's relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as a sticking point to them ever reconciling.
"You talk to a lot of Trump advisers, and they do think that this will not be able to be patched up, and they point specifically to that tweet about Jeffrey Epstein, you know, the world's most notorious pedophile, as something that president Trump is just not going to be able to walk away from," Liptak said. "There are a group of Trump and Musk allies who do believe that this could potentially be repaired. They are holding out hope that a phone call, for example, might be able to repair things between these two men. But as of this hour, that call is not on the books, and president Trump seems ready to sort of move on to other things, namely this giant bill, which I think at the end of the day underscores the stakes of all of this."
"You remember the entirety of president Trump's domestic agenda is wrapped up in this piece of legislation that he's now trying to push through the Senate," he added.
Musk has threatened to use his money and clout to challenge any Republican who votes for the so-called "big beautiful bill," and the president's allies are concerned that his opposition will embolden GOP deficit hawks.
"I think the fear among the president's advisers is that Musk, in questioning the deficit of this bill, will embolden Republicans who share the same point of view," Liptak said, "and that, I think, is the leverage that Musk holds in all of this. Donald Trump also has some leverage here. You saw, for example, yesterday he was threatening to withhold some of the federal subsidies to Musk's companies that could have a serious effect on his bottom line."
"So for as catty and as nasty as this all became, you know, you saw Donald Trump insulting Musk's decision to not wear eye makeup in the Oval Office, which is about as catty as I think anything I've seen at the White House in my years covering it," Liptak added. "This is a dispute that has some serious ramifications for policy, and certainly for president Trump's agenda as he works to get that passed on Capitol Hill."
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