Musk vs Trump Saga: White House of Cards

In the 1970s' blockbuster Sholay, Dharmendra, sitting atop the water tank, tells the villagers that his story has "drama, emotion, tragedy". The Trump vs Musk spat has all that and more—the alchemy of loyalty and betrayal, of power facing off against money.

- SHANKKAR AIYAR

It is the kind of reality drama that inspires fiction. The spectacle of the battle between the most powerful man and the richest man, each deploying surround-sound platforms to spew vitriol, had millions riveted and posting puns, from 'I hate my X' to 'Trump is now Elon's X'.

The fusillade of emotions and emojis streaming live on Musk's X and Trump's Truth Social has brought out shades of House of Cards. Eerily, Shakespeare's observation in Macbeth, "the nearer, the bloodier", was manifest in real life. Till the other day, the duo was gushing effusive praise. Musk, bearing the moniker of 'First Buddy', famously tweeted, "I love @realDonald Trump as much as a straight man can love another man." Trump anointed Musk as "one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced".

By Thursday night, the Big Beautiful Bromance plummeted from disagreement to diatribe. Musk morphed from being miffed to mutinous. He claimed Trump would have lost without him, dropped the Epstein allegation and called for impeachment. Trump travelled from disappointment to threats of cutting federal funding to declaring that Elon "has lost his mind". By late night, interlocutors were urging the duo to make up.