Musk and Trump are enemies made for each other – united in their ability to trash their own brands | Jonathan Freedland

What one did to Twitter and Tesla, the other is doing to the United States of America. Their feud is revealing a fatal flaw in the Maga project

The scriptwriters of Trump: the Soap Opera are slipping. The latest plot development - the epic falling-out between the title character and his best buddy, Elon Musk - was so predictable, and indeed predicted, that it counts as the opposite of a twist. Still, surprise can be overrated. Watching the two men - one the richest in the world, the other the most powerful - turn on each other in a series of ever-more venomous posts on their respective social media platforms has been entertainment of the highest order. X v Truth: it could be a Marvel blockbuster.

But this is more than mere popcorn fodder. Even if they eventually patch things up, the rift between the president and Musk has exposed a divide inside the contemporary right, in the US and beyond - and a fatal flaw of the Trump project.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

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