It seems it was bound to happen. The White House is nowhere big enough to accommodate the egos of President Trump and Elon Musk.

Their fallout happened this week over “The Big Beautiful Bill.” Elon Musk headed up an effort called DOGE, Department of Government Efficiency. He suggested cuts in areas he deemed to be waste, fraud and abuse.

Everybody is against government waste, fraud and abuse. Every government dollar spent has a constituency. Any cuts in Amtrak would bring out the rail fans, and any cuts in preserving national parks would bring out politicians who represent the area where the park is located. You get the idea.

In many ways, neither man understands how Washington works — although Trump knows more from his previous term as president. Musk is the richest person in the world. He runs car maker Tesla and X, formerly known as Twitter.

After their spat became public, Musk took to X, which he owns, to openly complain about Trump and Trump took to Truth Social, which he owns, to complain about Musk. Seemingly lost in the debate are those 340 million Americans who don’t own their social media platform. To some degree, social media has replaced stray painting bridges and public property.

The “Big Beautiful Bill” passed the House by a narrow margin. Now, the Senate weighs it. No Democrats will vote for the bill. That leaves Senate President John Thune with a razor-thin margin for passage.

Opponents of the bill — which includes some Republicans — believe it will increase the $37 trillion debt. Musk told Republicans “you know you’re increasing the debt” and further told GOP members to side with him rather than Trump as Trump will die first. Musk is 53 and Trump is 78. Musk went on a Twitter rage Thursday saying Trump should be impeached and the president’s name appears in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

Musk contends Trump wouldn’t be president without his millions in donations. Trump countered in an Oval Office press conference that he would’ve won without Musk.

Republican senators must decide what to do. Do they offend their powerful party leader, Trump, or do they risk a primary opponent well funded by the richest man in the world?

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

— From Tribune News Service