Trump and Musk cool it — for now

Politico

21 hours ago

Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond.
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LATEST: The Supreme Court this afternoon gave the Department of Government Efficiency unfettered access to the Social Security records of millions of Americans, our JOSH GERSTEIN reports. The justices granted the Trump administration's emergency request to lift a lower court ruling that blocked a DOGE team assigned to the Social Security Administration from viewing or accessing the personal information in the agency's systems.
In a separate order from the high court today, the justices gave DOGE another win, limiting access to its records from outside groups, Josh reports.
TGIF: This week started with a question: Will DONALD TRUMP have a call with Chinese President XI JINPING to deescalate a trade war that could prove mutually ruinous to the world's largest economies?
And now, it's ending with a new one: Will the president have a call with ELON MUSK to deescalate a war of words that could prove mutually destructive?
While the White House is billing today's relative quiet as a détente, Trump allies, ill at ease about the possibility of another blowup at any minute, are calling it something else.
'Reminds me of the Cold War: mutual assured destruction,' said one Trump ally.
Even as both men appeared to walk away from the edge, some White House officials and allies are privately acknowledging an uncomfortable truth: Trump is the most politically powerful man in the world, Musk is the wealthiest man in the world, and their fates have become inextricably linked.
Musk needs U.S. contracts to support his businesses, and the U.S. needs the services Musk's companies provide. Trump, who overwhelmingly won the popular vote last year and a sizable social media following, has a singular platform he has shown willing to use at any moment to devastate Musk's businesses and send stocks crashing.
And Musk, not only as owner of the social media platform X but the top GOP political donor last year, wields immense power to scramble the president's legislative agenda — with vast implications for the country's economic future, Trump's legacy and Republicans' majorities in Congress.
Those factors are, at least in part, why Trump allies say the fight hasn't escalated.
'Of course,' the Trump ally added, 'the MAD deterrence worked — there was no nuclear war.'
By today, mutual friends had pulled both back from the brink after a spat over the Trump-backed megabill and who should get credit for Trump winning the 2024 presidential election quickly escalated into a firestorm of personal insults and accusations. Musk on Thursday called for Trump's impeachment and suggested he has more links to a well known sex offender than previously known, while Trump threatened to cancel the billions of dollars in government contracts that form the foundation of Musk's businesses.
Emblematic of Trumpworld's intervention, hedge fund manager BILL ACKMAN in a post on X urged the men to 'make peace for the benefit of our great country,' adding that 'we are much stronger together than apart,' a point that Musk in a separate post conceded was 'not wrong.' Trump, meanwhile, in multiple telephone interviews with reporters over the last 24 hours, including POLITICO, claimed he 'wasn't even thinking about Elon' and that the two wouldn't speak 'for awhile.'
Amid rampant speculation about whether a call between the two men would happen, one White House official told POLITICO it was 'very possible' the two wouldn't speak today, adding that it was the 'most predictable schism ever.'
Musk on Thursday night was hinting at his desire to call a truce after a dive in Tesla's stock price and Trump's threats to cancel his SpaceX contracts made clear the financial stakes. As for Trump, advisers and Hill leaders are likely to push him to refocus on passing his megabill — an effort that's likely to be far more difficult if he continues to goad Musk and the billions of dollars at his disposal.
Read the full story here.
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POTUS PUZZLER
In 1979, what tennis scandal embroiled JIMMY CARTER?
(Answer at bottom.)
Musk Radar
SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW: JAMES FISHBACK, the chief architect behind the proposal to send 'DOGE checks' to Americans, told Sophia today that he's stepping back from the movement after Musk trashed the president. 'The truth is that Elon set expectations that he relayed to the president, me, and the country that he did not come close to fulfilling. That's disappointing, but okay,' Fishback said. 'What's not okay is his baseless personal attacks against President Trump.'
Fishback, the founder of an investment firm, made headway in conservative circles after proposing sending $5,000 payments to taxpayers funded by a share of DOGE's projected savings. Though Fishback never formally joined DOGE, the idea gained support from Musk and the president.
CAN WE TAKE A STEP BACK? Republicans in Congress really want this détente between Trump and Musk, our GISELLE RUHIYYIH EWING, RACHAEL BADE, NICHOLAS WU and MEREDITH LEE HILL report. 'I just hope it resolves quickly, for the sake of the country,' said Speaker MIKE JOHNSON on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' this morning.
'Oh, it's OK,' Trump told POLITICO in a brief telephone call on Thursday when asked about the breakup. 'It's going very well, never done better.' A senior administration official and person close to the White House said Trump had been convinced that continuing to brawl with Musk would be counterproductive and a distraction from a host of good news the White House should be focused on, including his talks with the Chinese leader.
Still, the president has continued his subtle jabs at Musk. He told ABC News this morning that the billionaire had 'lost his mind' and that he is 'not particularly' interested in engaging with him. Trump also told CNN that 'the poor guy's got a problem.'
DOGE caucus chair Rep. AARON BEAN (R-Fla.) said he was 'shocked and dismayed' to see his 'two friends fighting,' but remains optimistic that the two men can mend relations. 'I believe there's a Diet Coke in their future, that they can settle it and cooler heads will prevail,' Bean said. 'We need them together. We need to be united, and we're stronger together.'
In the Courts
HELP US OUT: The Trump administration today asked the Supreme Court to green light its mass firings at the Department of Education, Gerstein reports. In an emergency appeal filed this morning, Solicitor General JOHN SAUER asked the high court to lift a preliminary injunction issued last month.
While Trump has pledged to eliminate the department in its entirety, Sauer insisted that the reductions in force only target 'inefficiency' and are not an attempt to tear down the agency.
Sauer said Boston-based U.S. District Judge MYONG JOUN's order was part of a pattern of federal judges overstepping their role.
Agenda Setting
CALIFORNICATION: The Trump administration is preparing to cancel a large swath of federal funding for California as soon as today, CNN's ANNIE GRAYER and GABE COHEN report. Agencies are being told to start looking for grants the administration can withhold from the state. On the Hill, at least one committee was told recently by a whistleblower that all research grants to California are going to be terminated.
DANCING ON MY OWN: The fallout between Trump and Musk has left Tesla on a political life float, our DAVID FERRIS reports. Trump on Thursday threatened to pull all subsidies for his companies and just like that, Tesla's stock suffered its largest one-day drop in history. The share price fell more than 14 percent, lopping off more than $150 billion from its market value. According to Bloomberg, it tanked Musk's personal net worth by $34 billion.
ONE WINNER: THE MOON … The U.S. moon mission suddenly has a brighter future following Musk and Trump's fallout, our SAM SKOVE reports. Musk has argued against returning astronauts to the moon. But the forced exit of Musk's handpicked nominee to lead NASA, JARED ISAACMAN, and Musk's rupture with the president, has landed moon backers in Congress and industry an opening.
'Elon was the main reason for the fork in the road for NASA's human exploration plans,' said CLAYTON SWOPE, a former congressional adviser on space. 'With his exodus from D.C., there's a good chance NASA will refocus back to the moon with the plan: moon then Mars.' A number of major space companies, excluding SpaceX, are now launching a television ad campaign going big on the moon.
What We're Reading
Elon Musk goes on a warpath against Trump and the GOP (POLITICO's Andrew Howard and Adam Wren)
MAGA Faithful Shrug Off the Trump-Musk Dust-Up (POLITICO's Ben Jacobs)
Trump races to fix a big mistake: DOGE fired too many people (WaPo's Hannah Natanson, Adam Taylor, Meryl Kornfield, Rachel Siegel and Scott Dance)
Silicon Valley isn't joining Musk's Trump-bashing — yet (POLITICO's Chase DiFeliciantonio and Christine Mui)
POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER
When Carter first arrived in Washington, he played tennis 'more than any other single thing.' But that became a source of controversy after former White House speechwriter JIM FALLOWS said that requests to use the tennis court on the White House grounds needed to be approved directly by the president, according to the White House Historical Association.
'I have never personally monitored who used or did not use the White House tennis court,' Carter said of the accusation. He did admit to letting his secretary, SUSAN CLOUGH, receive requests from White House staff 'so that more than one person would not want to use the same tennis court simultaneously.'