World's most powerful President Trump and richest person Elon Musk are in an ego battle

Their barbs at each other through Social Media have all the element of a comic drama

- BY SUSHIL KUTTY

It's “so tempting to escalate” billionaire Elon Musk posted on his ‘X’ after President Donald Trump's ‘Truth Social’ spoke its mind on peace-deals.

And “escalating” is such a beautiful word, almost as much as Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill”, which is one bill Musk wants Congress to jettison quicker than Trump would throw a tantrum.

President Trump is ‘Tantrum Trump’. And he makes his play when escalation is in the air. Just like the words ‘spring in the air’ makes Americans jump, the word ‘escalate’ makes President Trump up the ante with tariffs and peace-deals

But it’s not always that a rich dude, nearly 300 times richer than Trump will ever be, talks of temptation dogging him to “escalate” a war of words with POTUS. For good reason, too. Trump is a peacenik, real-estate tycoon with pretensions of being peace negotiator and warmonger, rolled into one.

But it is Trump’s bromance with the world’s richest ‘South African’ Elon Musk that has become the talk of New York and Florida, of Gaza! Musk spoke of the “temptation to escalate” even as he praised Trump’s negotiating skills. This after the wealthiest man on the planet didn’t have anything nice to say about Trump's flagship “One Big, Beautiful Bill”.

Point to note is, Musk and Trump are children of the unpredictable. Musk has an inborn dislike for Trump even as Trump reciprocates with childlike innocence laced with boyish praise for his own “negotiating skills”. And when Musk praises Trump’s negotiating skills, his own negotiating skills go for a toss and a topple.

Musk is impressed that President Trump hammered out yet another peace-deal between Israel and Hamas and whether this one’s gonna stand is a thought never passed through Musk’s grey matter. “Credit where credit is due. @realDonaldTrump has successfully resolved several serious conflicts around the world,” Musk wrote, with a screenshot of Trump's ‘Truth Social’ announcing the truce deal.