Scroll down this column for comments by contributing pundits Jerry Lanson, Sharon Lintner, Hugh Hansen, Joel Postman and Jim McCraw. Submit your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.
Short-Lived Distraction: I consider the Musk-Trump schism a short-lived distraction. I won't play conspiracy theorist, but I don't believe it will last and I'm curious whether it is contrived. In the meantime, the traditional media are distracted from examining Trump's big bill, which is filled with horrible stuff, or from explaining it to the public at large.
People may know that it will eliminate health insurance for 10.7 million Americans on Medicaid over the next decade. They likely don't know it will sharply curtail Pell grants, which help enable 40% of college students to seek higher education. Even as college costs keep climbing, the bill and Trump's proposed budget will cut Pell grants by nearly 25% of their current maximum of $7,395.
The bill also will eliminate food stamps for millions of individuals and families.
And there is much more tucked away in its pages, including constraining the courts, a co-equal branch of government, from holding people in contempt of court if they ignore court rulings.
Now there are calls in the Senate for even more cuts so that the bill won't balloon the deficit by $2.4 trillion to provide big, permanent tax cuts for the mega-rich. Suddenly cuts to Medicare, the health insurance for everyone over age 65, is being discussed.
So while the Trump-Musk circus plays out to everyone's entertainment, we are in the process of crushing average Americans and older Americans to further enrich billionaires. Alas, tens of millions of Americans -- including many Trump supporters -- won't know what hit them until long after the bill is passed. Then the pain will set in but it will be too late.
Republicans were clever to call this the Big Beautiful Bill. It has stuck. Actually, it's the Big Hideous, Horrible bill. --Jerry Lanson
Brakes on BBB: The Trump- Musk feud might become the brakes that stop the "Big, Beautiful Bill." After his fiasco at the DOGE, maybe, just maybe, Musk can finally be of some help to the people. Perhaps he carries enough influence to persuade others to have the courage to vote against this "Big, Bad Bill." It looks like the infighting is off to a vicious start, let the unraveling begin! --Sharon Lintner
Liking the Break-Up: I'd be pleased with a permanent break, though I'm taking deep breaths rather than holding mine. While neither of these men have a stable-enough personality to make their future relationship predictable, Trump's base has been more steadfast than the tech bro bunch. --Hugh Hansen
Musk Must Turn: It is my fervent hope that Elon Musk turns completely on MAGA and Trump, calls for his impeachment, then funds only Democrats in dozens of close House races so that we can get rid of Trump, Hegseth, Bondi, Patel, and the rest of the Trump Gang for ever and ever. I have never in my life seen this level of bald-faced presidential corruption and blackmail while the Supreme Court sits on it well-manicured hands and lets him get away with it. Every day. And the idea of that fat orange punk having a parade for himself makes my stomach turn. --Jim McCraw
Musk Becomes Villain for Trump: The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is likely to endure, with little political impact.
The conflict quickly degraded from one of ideological differences to a street fight. While Musk initiated the dispute, he will become another convenient hip-pocket bogeyman for Trump. Like Bezos, Hillary Clinton, or DeSantis, he’s someone Trump can attack to energize his base and show he’s out there fighting elites, liberals, Dems, and so on.
Trump has shown no inclination to walk back his attacks. Musk in the meantime is no stranger to conflict and outrageousness. Both men benefit in from the spectacle. Expect it to continue, but to become increasingly meaningless. --Joel Postman