Musk and Trump – The Fight of the Century
By: Obie Usategui
6/6/2025

I think you will agree with me in characterizing Musk’s and Trump’s rift as the “Fight of the Century,” thus replacing the label for the boxing showdown between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier back on March 8th, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Whatever happened when a couple of days back, both these guys were alluding to each other as the greatest thing that ever happened to humanity, after Coca-Cola of course. As far as Trump was concerned, he, all along since the start of his present term as President. has continuously, praised, acclaimed, and commended Musk for all he had done both for him personally and for the nation – well deserved I must add.

Musk, on the other hand, during his tenure in government as a so-called “special government employee” heading the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE], was also in the news, daily, praising Donald Trump, both as a person and as a President. So…whatever happened for these two to, in a matter of hours, go at each other as though all that preceded was “much ado about nothing.” Was it “all bark and no bite.”?

Well, I will put it you this way, however way you want to look at this, one thing is for sure, the rift is not becoming, it is not good for either one. My worry is the only ones that will really benefit from all this are democrats and Trump haters. So…. There is not much good that can come out of it, can it? On situations like this one, there are many things that go on behind the scenes, most of which the public, you and I, never get to know – most of the time, only insiders are privy to the truth in issues of such public interest.

My take on what started it all was Trump’s infamous Big Beautiful Bill, which, as we all know by now, is, indeed, controversial for many – a subject for another day. Besides the bill’s merits and/or demerits, my outlook is that Elon Musk’s pejorative views of the bill, relative to the over-spending, etc., first caused a friction between him and United States Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent – the latter a principal promoter of the Bill. As a matter of fact, I would not rule out the possibility that the brawl between Bessent and Musk, could have escalated to where there could have been a physical altercation as shown by Musk’s bruised appearance at a White House news conference, where he attributed the former to his son punching him on the face.

Whether Bessent and Musk had a physical altercation, I have no way of proving and is irrelevant. What I do know, however, is that they did have a serious disagreement, these two did. And Trump was in the middle of it all. In the end, obviously Trump must have taken sides with Bessent and that did not land well with Musk. So, yes, you could make a case for Musk’s grievances with the Bill, only because the Bill does have a lot of the “pork-fat”, the same fat that Musk was assigned to get rid of in his role in DOGE.

And you could also make a case that, as a non-government businessperson, entrepreneur, most of Musk’s business will be negatively impacted by Trump’s policies regarding China. Remember most all of Musk’s business rely in either products, to wit, batteries, and/or technologies all of which come from China. The reversal of the previous administration’s electric vehicle mandate by President Trump also has significant economic implications for Tesla, led by Elon Musk.

So, yes, Musk may have some legitimate gripes with Trump’s Bill. That said, nonetheless, my problem is, why take it to a personal level? As you may know, Musk, not only came out and ripped the Big Beautiful Bill, but he went on to throw some low punches at Trump, which I feel were just uncalled for. Among other things, Musk said that Trump owed him the Presidency, that Trump was ungrateful and to top it all, that Trump had an association with Jeffrey Epstein’s sex scandal.

Again, you all can take sides any which way you want. I know that, besides Democrats suffering from the Trump derangement syndrome, there are many Republicans that just don’t like Donald Trump, his personality or whatever, and that is fine with me. You are all entitled to your opinion, however, from my own perspective, regardless which side you choose or why, I personally think that Musk’s personal attacks, the way he did was unbecoming. Notwithstanding the gratitude I feel for all that Musk has done for our nation, he just went too far in the way he went about his case.

Bottom line, after everything is said and done, here we have two alpha-males with huge egos, albeit justifiably so as both these men have each reached the pinnacle in their own right – one the richest man in the world, the other the most powerful man in the planet – not a common everyday fight, I may add. Will these two be able to mend their ways, shake hands and put everything aside? I say, chances for that to happen soon are slim to none, given the nature and egos of the characters in this drama.

What I do know is, again, that, regardless, the fight between these two has no real benefits for anyone, especially for a nation that just a few days back was watching these two men have a special affection for each other, all short of being gay. The bottom line, after everything is said and done, I think Musk may have just put a nail in that Big Beautiful Bill coffin, which, you and I know, is at centerstage, almost essential, crucial for Trump’s and the nation’s chances to succeed in Making America Great Again. God save us and God save the United States of America.