Let us stipulate, yet again — that when two narcissistic boy-babies brawl. . . it often rapidly devolves into… satire.

But, in this version… not so much, so far — with these two.

Musk may leave Tangerine 2.0 (after campaigning on a promise of humans on Mars!) with the humiliating posture that we need to “hitch rides” with Putin’s / Russia’s Soyuz, as the only real option for getting our astronauts to the ISS, and home again.

In turn, Trump can nearly bankrupt SpaceX and more importantly, Tesla and the AI projects Musk runs — by pulling government funding (as he’s tried to do, with USAID, PBS, NPR and Harvard, among many others). That Trump would ultimately lose in a court months from now would not matter (much) — as the damage to Musk’s empire would be profound, deep and lasting.

Honestly — I could not be more pleased that this is staying white hot — perhaps for weeks yet to come. It deeply damages both of them — and the MAGA/GOP in total. [Maybe even conservatism, more broadly defined — as it is very publicly and starkly unmasked for the hollow, evil, misogynist and racist “philosophy” it has been — ever since the days of Barry Goldwater.]

Here’s The Hill — on Trump’s latest threat — that Musk “better not” back any Democrats at the mid-terms:

…While Trump could pose new risks to Musk’s business outlooks, analysts say the fight could also impede the president’s ability to run the government.

SpaceX held federal contracts with agencies like NASA and the Pentagon long before Trump’s presidency, becoming a crucial partner to the federal government as it phased out the space shuttle program.

If Musk reverses on his decision to keep Dragon in commission, experts say it could debilitate the U.S. space program….

“If such threats were carried out, it would be catastrophic,” said space policy expert Mark Whittington, adding later, “Without SpaceX, we’re back to being dependent on the Russians.”

NASA has increasingly relied on SpaceX for its infrastructure, including the Dragon capsule, which is the only U.S. system capable of getting crews to the International Space Station….

Then, on Saturday, President Trump said there would be “serious consequences” if tech mogul Elon Musk funds Democratic candidates to run against Republicans who vote in favor of the GOP’s sweeping budget bill….

Damn. What a vastly-ugly clown show. And I am grinning ear to ear.

For his part, Paul Mirengoff this morning tries to suggest Trump will “win” this epic smack-down / battle of the cry-babies — but as he does so, he openly admits this is already scorching a LOT of Earth, as against many hard right objectives he had hoped to achieve — with Tangerine 2.0 at 1600 Penn. [He admits that Musk is right — as well — the “Big Bill” is a fetid pile of brown wooly monkey excrement.]

All of that is twisting in the wind… now.

Lovely!

Out.

नमस्ते

Updated, 3 PM EDT on Friday afternoon: Hinderaker has finally weighed in on it all. His take is… utterly predictable. In his view, this is all Elon’s fault. That is of course (as we see below)… silly posturing.

But John does correctly assess that this “mutually assured (nuclear) reciprocal destruction event” is now doing grave damage to all of Tangerine 2.0’s ambitions, and perhaps even to what Hinderaker cheerfully calls… “conservatism itself“. [I might quibble there — and say that if this is what the GOP thinks of as conservatism, in 2025 — they are misspelling that word: it. is. spelled. racism. But why quibble, right?!]

Tellingly, John does NOT list among the reasons for this Oppenheimer Moment… the scuttling of Isaacman’s bid to lead NASA. That is where Trump most clearly broke a brand new promise to Musk: Musk could have his guy run NASA — but then Gor’s harping that that billionaire had donated to Democratic candidates and causes… dumped him.

Hilarious — so John confirms, with his silence on the matter, that Trump again welshed, and Musk has had enough. To be clear, I don’t want Musk back — as a blue dog. I want them to tear each other to shreds. John acknowledges that is what is best for us Democrats. True dat. End updated portion.

I am not sure — and I guess I don’t really care — whether this Axios reporting is absolutely iron-clad, as Trump and Musk have grown increasingly distant over the past three weeks… but I am interested in it, insofar as it affects NASA — one of my favorite federal research centers. [“I am become death — destroyer of worlds.” Heh.]

Without any additional ado then, here’s the item — purporting to set a timeline, as to why the nuclear meltdown occured yesterday, in particular:

…Trump acknowledged Thursday that canceling Jared Isaacman’s NASA nomination had “upset” Musk, who’s close to Isaacman. It was a factor, among many, that led to Thursday’s shocking falling out between the president and his one-time “First Buddy,” the world’s richest person.

Musk spent the afternoon flaming Trump on X. It left presidential advisers stunned — and some of them angry at Gor, whose tense relationship with Musk was a backdrop to the controversy.

Senate Republicans also blamed Gor for helping undermine the NASA nomination to settle a score with Musk, who had been critical of Gor’s management of the White House personnel office.

Gor declined to comment….

What a shockingly-public debacle — for Trumpians. Feuding with the richest man — and biggest donor — on the planet, to MAGA/GOP causes.

Fascinating — in the end though, this was (and is) all about Trump (again) breaking his word to Musk — about preserving Musk’s access to the federal gravy train at SpaceX — via NASA collabos… and at Tesla, via EV subsidies. Wow.

नमस्ते