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The fate of Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s megabill in the Senate was already uncertain. Then came the spectacular dissolution of his alliance with Elon Musk<\/strong>, who began the week railing against the legislation and ended it with a battery of attacks\u2014including alleging that the president has ties to Jeffrey Epstein and suggesting that he should be impeached and replaced by Vice President JD Vance<\/strong>. Suddenly, Republicans\u2014who\u2019d spent months watching with delight as the two took flamethrowers to the nation\u2019s democratic institutions\u2014found themselves caught in the crossfire as the former allies took aim at one another<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most, to this point, have aligned themselves with their official boss: \u201cPresident Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads,\u201d Vance posted<\/a>, several hours after Musk suggested he take the reins. \u201cI\u2019m proud to stand beside him.\u201d<\/p>\n But the vice president\u2019s careful statement, and the public efforts in Trumpworld to ease hostilities<\/a>, were telling: Trump may command the bully pulpit and the powers of the presidency, but Musk\u2019s money, platform, and own legion of followers can pose a formidable threat to the MAGA movement .<\/p>\n The most immediate peril, of course, may be for Trump\u2019s so-called \u201cbig beautiful bill,\u201d which could turn into a big, beautiful blow-up if House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/strong> and Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/strong> can\u2019t find a way to diffuse the situation. Johnson, who narrowly passed the legislation<\/a> through the lower chamber, has been one of its chief lobbyists as it heads to the other side of the Capitol. And Thune, who can only afford three defections, is trying to get a deal done by Independence Day. \u201cFailure is not an option,\u201d he said<\/a> on Thursday. But with some in his conference worried about cuts to Medicaid and other programs, and others saying that the cuts don\u2019t go deep enough<\/em>, failure is certainly in the realm of possibilities.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s attacks\u2014lobbed from his perch on X, the social media platform he owns\u2014could make the math worse for Thune: \u201cYou don\u2019t want the world\u2019s richest guy with the biggest megaphone shitting on the bill in crunchtime,\u201d as a top Hill leader told<\/a> Politico. He\u2019d only need to persuade a few holdouts, the person noted, and \u201cif he spends [the] next few weeks shitting on the bill, that will move the numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n With that in mind, Johnson has been eager to negotiate a truce between the warring parties. Just one problem, though: \u201cI called Elon last night and he didn\u2019t answer,\u201d the House leader told<\/a> reporters Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s very friendly,\u201d he assured, \u201cand we\u2019ve laughed about our differences on policy before.\u201d<\/p>\n But while much of the nation indeed watched this drama play out with plenty of mirth, there have been more tears than laughter in MAGAland since the feud broke open: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to see a path forward for these two to repair their relationship,\u201d Fox News\u2019 Will Cain<\/strong> lamented<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n The fear, it seems, is that the acrimony could upend more than the \u201cbig beautiful bill.\u201d Since Musk threw in his lot with Trump, they and their allies have gotten everything they wanted: Musk enjoyed virtually unchecked power; Trump enjoyed a virtually unlimited war chest; and Republicans enjoyed rubbing their newfound political and cultural might in the faces of their opponents. The fracture in Trump and Musk\u2019s relationship threatens to fracture their broader political fantasy: \u201cWho else really wants [Musk and Trump] to reconcile?\u201d Senator Mike Lee<\/strong> asked<\/a> on X. \u201cThe world is a better place with the Trump-Musk bromance fully intact.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n