BROMANCE BREAKUP: The inevitable falling out between Donald Trump and Elon Musk arrived yesterday with the former Oval Office buddies in open verbal warfare.

  Following Musk’s denunciation of the Republican tax and spending bill as an “abomination,” the President yesterday threatened to cut billions of dollars in federal contracts and tax subsidies for Musk’s companies, including SpaceX. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social feed. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

  On that threat, Tesla stock dropped 14 percent in value, about $150 billion.

  Rarely in Trump’s world has anyone made the character arc from ally to enemy so quickly. Only last Friday, Trump gave Musk a gold key as a gift of gratitude for his work cutting federal spending. But yesterday, he posted, “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave.”

  Musk agreed with a social media poster that Trump should be impeached.

   This is a battle between two men who both believe they are the smartest person in the world … and both are wrong. 

   In the midst of a meeting with Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump broke days of silence about Musk’s rebellion saying, “I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”

  Musk responded immediately on his Twitter/X saying: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.” Musk spent $250 million on Trump’s presidential campaign. He added, “Such ingratitude.”  

  Musk even talked about breaking away from the Republicans and forming his own political party. The Tesla billionaire also claimed that Trump is named in the Epstein files, the investigative record into the late sex trafficker and celebrity buddy Jeffrey Epstein.

  Trump accused Musk of  “Trump derangement syndrome,” an illness Trump diagnoses in anyone who disagrees with him.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: 

— A federal judge in Massachusetts yesterday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s effort to prevent foreign students from enrolling at Harvard. 

  The university has been fighting Trump efforts to control its admissions and educational agenda. The government asked Harvard to bar students hostile to American values and allow an audit of faculty and students to assess “viewpoint diversity” … meaning, are there faculty and students who agree with Donald Trump.

— The Department of Homeland Security says it’s ending an anti-terrorism surveillance program known as “Quiet Skies” established under President Obama. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement that the program “failed to stop a SINGLE terrorist attack while costing US taxpayers roughly $200 million a year.”

  Quiet Skies was also under attack by conservatives who claimed it was used politically against them. Tulsi Gabbard, now the Director of National Intelligence, was placed under surveillance in 2024 after attending an event at the Vatican also attended by a man under Quiet Skies surveillance. Gabbard claimed it was because she was a critic of the Biden administration.

— In just nine months, President Trump has enriched himself by about $1 billion with his crypto-currency venture $Trump, according to a report in Forbes. The report says Trump and his backers have cashed in just 8 percent of their allotment, with 92 percent remaining.

  The Forbes report says: “A year ago, he was short on cash, with about $400 million on his balance sheet and more than $500 million in legal judgments against him, the vast majority from a fraud case he lost (and is currently appealing). Now, however, Trump holds roughly $900 million of liquid assets, about half of which come from crypto ventures.”

THE SUPREMES: The Court yesterday unanimously sided with a straight white woman who sued her employer for discrimination after her gay boss twice passed her over for jobs in favor of less-experience gay candidates. The Court overturned a lower court opinion that said members of a majority group must present a higher standard of proof in seeking to prove workplace discrimination.

  The decision puts further pressure on affirmative action programs to proceed with caution in employment decisions.

  The lawsuit brought by Marlean Ames against the Ohio Department of Youth Services may now proceed at the trial court level.

—  Also yesterday the Court unanimously rejected a lawsuit out of Mexico attempting to hold the American gun industry responsible for drug cartel violence. The decision said that US law that protects gunmakers from liability suits bars the Mexican lawsuit.

THE WAR ROOM: Russia pounded Ukraine yesterday in a wave of drone and ballistic missile attacks, killing four people and damaging buildings in the capital of Kyiv in what Moscow said was retaliation for Ukraine’s clever and daring attack on Russian bomber bases.

  This latest assault would appear to make peace more remote than ever. President Trump, who bragged that he could end the war in 24 hours, appears to have thrown up his hands, writing off the war as something like a squabble between children. Yesterday he said, “Two kids, they fight, fight, fight. Sometimes you let ‘em fight for a little while.”

  In a five-hour attack last night, Russian hit Ukraine with 407 drones and 40 ballistic missiles, taxing Ukraine’s defense system. The buzz of drones, thudding of explosions, and anti-aircraft fire filled the night air.

THE SPIN RACK: Another witness in the trial of Sean “Puffy” Combs testified about drug-fueled parties and being forced to have sex with other men while the music mogul watched. — Fans waited in line for days and even weeks to buy the new Nintendo Switch 2 game console that finally went on sale yesterday. It costs $449. 

BELOW THE FOLD:  CNN tomorrow night will broadcast a live performance of the George Clooney play, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” about the CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and the McCarthy era. It’s worth seeing and beats paying $1,000 for a ticket.

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