WE'RE AT THE "I HATE MY DAD!" ADOLESCENT PART OF THE TRUMP-MUSK RELATIONSHIP

Is this total war? Is it a serious blow to Republicans as they try to pass the Big Beautiful Bill? I have my doubts, as I explain below:

Elon Musk continued his rampage against Donald Trump’s spending bill on Tuesday night, setting the stage for an ugly showdown with the president’s faithful.

“Mammoth spending bills are bankrupting America!” he wrote, sharing a graphic depicting rising national debt over the past three decades. “ENOUGH,” he added.

He also responded with a “100″ emoji to an X user who wrote that Musk had “reminded everyone: It’s not about Right vs. Left. It’s about the Establishment vs the People.”

He then posted an American flag emoji under a post from conservative satire site The Babylon Bee, highlighting a story titled, “The Lord Strengthens Elon One Last Time To Push Pillars Of Congress Over And Bring Government Crashing Down.”

Earlier Tuesday, the billionaire unleashed hellfire on Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill, lambasting the president’s flagship legislative package as “outrageous,” “pork-filled” and a “disgusting abomination.”

We think of Trump as someone who demands complete loyalty. That's true ... for most of his allies. Trump seems to treat Musk differently.

I said this in November and I'm sticking with it:

... I think it's noteworthy that Trump is the same age as Musk's father.

A couple of weeks later, I wrote:

And Trump might be looking for a son. He seems disappointed in his three biological sons....

That's how I think their relationship works: Trump is the father, and Musk is the rich, successful businessman son he never had. I'm sure Trump believes his genes should have created someone with Musk's wealth and status, but it never happened.

This was never just a boss-subordinate relationship. Remember this?

I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025

And remember this from last week's Wall Street Journal story about the end of Musk's time in Washington?

Trump has described Musk to aides as “50% genius, 50% boy,” according to White House staffers who heard his comments. Another White House aide said they heard Trump call Musk “90% genius, 10% boy.”

"Boy" isn't a word Trump uses very often. It's weirdly paternal.

Many super-rich men throughout American history have seen themselves as equal in power to the president of the United States, or even superior. Musk clearly doesn't feel that way. He wants Trump's love -- and, of course, government contracts and the termination of all government investigations of his companies. He clearly believes he's not putting his empire at risk by lashing out at the bill -- he's really just lashing out the way a normal teenager would at a parent with whom he doesn't have any serious conflicts -- and Trump's failure to lash out at him, at Truth Social or anywhere else, suggests that their peculiar relationship will survive this. (We knew this wasn't a normal Trumpworld falling-out when Trump invited Musk to that press conference in the Oval Office last Friday, as a farewell. Trump usually kicks people to the curb abruptly and completely. There are very few soft landings.)

What's more important to understand is that Musk's attacks on the bill won't doom it. They won't give Senate Republicans cover to vote against it. The bill seems to be in trouble now, but this is a familiar pattern, and the endgame is always the same: Trump twists arms and critics fall in line. It will happen again. No one will be emnboldened by Musk's criticism because everyone in the GOP, including Elon Musk, knows which of the two, Trump or Musk, is the Daddy in the party.