About 10 minutes into his bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday, President Donald Trump was finally asked about the domestic elephant in the room: Elon Musk and his sharp criticisms this week of Trump’s agenda bill.

For almost a year, Elon Musk marshaled the full force of X, his $45 billion social media platform, to boost Donald Trump’s political fortunes and second presidency. On Thursday, as the two men publicly fought in a flurry of furious online posts, Musk revealed X to be a double-edged sword.

As the relationship between President Trump and Elon Musk unraveled publicly on Thursday, bystanders flooded social media with memes comparing them to the main figures in some of the most legendary feuds, including the teenage frenemies of “Mean Girls” and the rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

An afternoon of escalating attacks left the men threatening to wield their power against each other.

The falling-out between Elon Musk and President Trump went into overdrive on Thursday. Both men have powerful ways to keep it going.

The world’s richest man and the president of the United States are now openly fighting.

Elon Musk's statement on social media that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's files haven't been released because President Trump's name appears among them was an "unfortunate episode," the White House said Thursday.

Elon Musk's latest feud with Trump began with an X post, criticizing the GOP's spending bill.Tesla shares were down 14% by the market's close, wiping out $138B of the company's worth.Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that about $34 billion was erased from Musk's net worth.