The war war by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk left Washington to analyze how highly narrow relationship has deteriorated and the implications.
But social media users around the world have released their popcorn, flocked to their aircraft and rang while the quarrel took place on social networks.
Supporters of Musk and Trump by applauding each of them, with others telling them to cool things, to the same internet users savoring in the back and forth, platforms like X, Truth Social and Bluesky allowed the public to see everything unfold and weigh in real time.
“They see it as a cat fight,” said ABC News Jennifer Grygies, an associate professor of communications at the University of Syracuse. “The only reason why people connect is because we look at mutual destruction.”
Grygiel noted that if part of the commitment of social media could be fun and games, this speaks to a more important problem of public dissatisfaction with the current state of policy and civic engagement. More importantly, the professor said, he distracted more important political problems and debates.
As soon as Musk and Trump publications fell Thursday afternoon, social media began to publish.
“It’s like Drake and Kendrick Lamar, but they are both Drake,” said Anna Hughes, Canadian researcher on the conservation of the ocean In a viral bluesky position.
Famous support from Trump and Musk urged them to stop.
“Broooos please Nooooooo 🫂 We love you so much,” posted the rapper Ye on X.
Others have started to make memes, some of which used images generated by AI, Trump and Musc or appearing as a couple that separates.
“Let me host the reunion!” Talk-show host of the end of the evening, Andy Cohen, posted on X.
The X logo is indicated on a laptop on February 10, 2025 in Barcelona, ​​Spain.
Nurphoto via getty images, file
On the serious side, the Republicans on the hill, including the president of the room, Mike Johnson and the vice-president JD Vance, published declarations on X defending the president and the bill of expenditure.
“There are a lot of lies that corporate media tell about President Trump. One of the most flagrant is that he is impulsive or angry. Whoever saw him operating under pressure knows that it is ridiculous,” said Vance.
Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec said in a post X post that the back and forth of the pair had been destroyed.
“Some of you cannot manage 2 men of high agency who go there and it really shows,” he said.
Some democrats went to social networks to rejoice.
“Siri, playing” Bad Blood “, the head of the majority of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, published on Bluesky on Thursday evening, referring to the song by Taylor Swift on a relationship on the rocks.
The online peanut gallery was not limited to American spectators.
Dmitri Medvedev, the former Russian president and Russian Prime Minister, went to X early Friday morning with a georpolitical dose of sarcasm.
“We are ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace agreement between D and E for reasonable costs and to accept Starlink’s actions as payment. Do not fight, guys,” he said.
Grygiel said Trump and Musk knew they would arouse their political bases and the general public by bringing their quarrels to their respective social media platforms, comparing it to the way the owners of media magazines used the magazines and the newspapers they had at the turn of the 20th century.
“It is almost as if all these social media platforms were sports teams, with their own personalities,” they said. “If anything, the two men obviously know the importance of modifying public opinion.”
Grant Reeher, professor of political science at the University of Syracuse, told ABC News that Musk and Trump of social media has encouraged this political commitment for years.
“I think it is very emblematic of the whole process of many major changes in political communication and campaign rhetoric.
Grygiel, however, said that the articles and comments of certain social media users show the increased mistrust and frustration of the public towards their elected leaders.
In this photo illustration, publications on the social networks of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are displayed on smartphones.
Yassine Mahjoub / Sipa via Shutterstock
“The jokes speak of a lack of disengagement and the way we have the impression that this is ridiculous,” they said.
Grygiel, however, warned that the commitment concerning the spat was generally detrimental to the general public as other urgent problems, including the budget cuts of Trump, which triggered the quarrel in the first place.
The Democratic Senator of Connecticut, Chris Murphy, echoes this feeling in a bluesky position blurled on Thursday.
“When 15 million Americans lose their health care and plunge into a personal crisis, none of them will give an S — on a Twitter fight made for clicks between two billionaires,” he said.
