KURT SCHLICHTER: Patriots Are the Losers in the Trump v. Musk Feud.

My parents were Scottish and German, so they didn’t actually yell at each other. I can only imagine that this is how little kids with Latin parents feel like when Mami and Papi are fighting. People fight and then they make up. Now, some people are speculating that this is a giant put-on designed to blow people’s minds, and if I hadn’t been alive for the last decade of insanity, I would write that off completely. It’s possible this is some sort of 4D chess match between grandmasters that is beyond my capacity to comprehend. More likely, Elon is just really, really angry. And  when somebody swings at Trump, he swings back

But it’s time to stop swinging. We need both of these guys on our team. We need Donald Trump on his A game, and we need Elon doing what Elon does. Elon’s at terrific personal risk here if this relationship goes completely off the rails. He’s got zero friends on the left. They are out for his blood. They will literally take everything he owns and throw him in jail – if not try to murder him – should the Republicans lose power. How do I know? Because we saw what they did to Donald Trump when he was on a temporary power hiatus.

But Republicans still love Elon Musk, and the Republican Party needs guys like Elon Musk, not just for his money but for his brains. There’s no going to the left for him. There’s no sitting out politics. He got in the game and now there’s no escape. Elon Musk needs the Republican Party because the Democrat Party wants him in a cell or a hole. The Republican Party needs Elon Musk because he’s Elon Musk.

Additional thoughts from Joel Kotkin: Musk’s outbursts reveal a deeper rift in MAGA: Trump is squandering the chance to build a coherent populist programme.