The escalating fight between President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk has been framed as a clash of titans — but in reality, Philip Bump wrote for The Washington Post, Trump is the inevitable winner, because he has a card to play that Musk will never have.
That card, Bump said, is the fact that the Republican Party will always side with Trump over anyone who criticizes him, even a former supporter.
"Everyone else who sidles up to him suffers from the deficit that they are not Trump himself," wrote Bump. "They therefore risk discovering that Trump has suddenly turned against them, bringing his fervent base of support — tens of millions of Americans strong — with him. Options from that point are limited: obsequious efforts at reintegration with the president or lining up for one of the modest but endless slots reserved in the public conversation for Trump’s former allies."
The polls paint a stark picture of how badly Musk has already lost the war of public opinion, wrote Bump.
"Polling released by YouGov in the wake of the conflagration suggests that, among Republicans in particular, there’s not much choice between Trump and Musk," he wrote. "Asked who they would choose between Trump and Musk, 7 in 10 Republicans said Trump, with another 1 in 8 saying neither. (This, unsurprisingly, was the most common answer from Democrats.) Republicans chose Trump over Musk by a nearly 12 to 1 margin."
The feud between the Trump and Musk, who have been solid allies and partners for months after Musk helped bankroll Trump's 2024 campaign and headed up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force, was driven by two main catalysts: Trump killing the NASA chief nomination of a close Musk friend, and Musk being enraged at what he sees as insufficient cuts to public services and benefits in the Trump-backed "big, beautiful bill" on tax cuts for the wealthy.
The spat escalated to new levels earlier this week when Trump threatened to cut off Musk's corporate subsidies and federal contracts, and Musk responded by demanding Trump's impeachment and implying he was a pedophile.
For his part, Trump is downplaying the significance of the argument, saying that he will simply proceed with his agenda without Musk.