| After the flash fallout between President Donald Trump and his megadonor-turned-adviser Elon Musk, Washington’s attention turned to implications for the GOP’s tax bill and the billionaire’s future political priorities. Trump and his aides insist the president has moved on to more important matters, after the blowup with his once omnipresent benefactor kept both Washington and Wall Street glued to their smartphone screens overnight. He turned his ire this morning to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell after the better-than-expected May jobs report — “Go for a full point, Rocket Fuel!” he wrote on Truth Social — and announced his top trade advisors would meet with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday. “The meeting should go very well,” he said. Meanwhile, as my colleague Erik Wasson over on Capitol Hill writes today, Congressional Republicans are siding with Trump on the bill, betting that staying in the president’s good graces is a safer bet despite Musk’s threats to help fund primary challenges to anyone who votes for it. (But note, they’re nowhere close to agreeing on the details.) Two White House officials familiar with the matter told me and my colleague Josh Wingrove that Trump had no plans or intentions to speak with Musk on Friday, but they suggested the tech mogul was seeking such a call.  Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the White House on March 14. Photographer: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images And although Musk appeared to choose his better angles on X in replies to users like Bill Ackman, his relationship with the president is likely permanently damaged by his earlier personal attacks — including endorsing a call for his impeachment and claiming without evidence that his name appears in the so-called “Epstein files.” The fallout also raises questions about where Musk’s political loyalties will land next, and the potentially millions of dollars in fundraising he could shepherd to a new contender. “Some food for thought,” he wrote on X, “Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years.” (Vice President JD Vance, widely-considered a formidable MAGA successor, sided with his boss.) He also asked his 220 million followers if it’s time to create a new political party “that actually represents the 80% in the middle” — nevermind that path of American politics is littered with failed candidates such as Ross Perot and Ralph Nader. “Every time Mark Cuban, every time Elon Musk, every time someone who has huge name ID and a massive following in this country engages in the discussion about a new political party, it’s fantastic,” said Forward Party CEO Lindsey Drath, referencing Cuban’s endorsement of Musk’s idea with checkmark emojis on X. But in Trumpland, of course, there’s always a chance for reconciliation. “Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy, they hate each other,” Trump illustrated in an awkward analogy about Russia’s war in Ukraine on Thursday — shortly before his own virtual brawl with Musk. “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while, and then pulling them apart.” — Akayla Gardner | 
