By Sushil Kutty
It’s “so tempting to escalate” billionaire Elon Musk posted on his ‘X’ after President Donald Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ spoke its mind on peace-deals. And “escalating” is such a beautiful word, almost as much as Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, which is one bill Musk wants Congress to jettison quicker than Trump would throw a tantrum.
President Trump is ‘Tantrum Trump’. And he makes his play when escalation is in the air. Just like the words ‘spring in the air’ makes Americans jump, the word ‘escalate’ makes President Trump up the ante with tariffs and peace-deals
But it’s not always that a rich dude, nearly 300 times richer than Trump will ever be, talks of temptation dogging him to “escalate” a war of words with POTUS. For good reason, too. Trump is a peacenik, real-estate tycoon with pretensions of being peace negotiator and warmonger, rolled into one.
But it is Trump’s bromance with the world’s richest ‘South African’ Elon Musk that has become the talk of New York and Florida, of Gaza! Musk spoke of the “temptation to escalate” even as he praised Trump’s negotiating skills. This after the wealthiest man on the planet didn’t have anything nice to say about Trump’s flagship “One Big, Beautiful Bill”.
Point to note is, Musk and Trump are children of the unpredictable. Musk has an inborn dislike for Trump even as Trump reciprocates with childlike innocence laced with boyish praise for his own “negotiating skills”. And when Musk praises Trump’s negotiating skills, his own negotiating skills go for a toss and a topple.
Musk is impressed that President Trump hammered out yet another peace-deal between Israel and Hamas and whether this one’s gonna stand is a thought never passed through Musk’s grey matter. “Credit where credit is due. @realDonaldTrump has successfully resolved several serious conflicts around the world,” Musk wrote, with a screenshot of Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ announcing the truce deal.
President Trump, on his part, took the praise with a rare uncommon place calmness, otherwise ‘Calamity’ is President Trump’s middle name, Donald ‘Calamity’ Trump! The US President has made it his life-goal to earn a Nobel Peace Prize and Musk is making sure it doesn’t become a fighting chance!
If Trump gets the ‘Nobel Peace Prize’, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be rewarded, too. And that is a strict ‘Na-Na Nada’. Reports say Netanyahu will be in Washington next week and “Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60-Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War,” Trump wrote.
Funny thing is, President Trump should be thanking and trumpeting Qatar and Egypt’s praise, the “mediators” who are slated to deliver “this final proposal” and for which they should be given the Nobel Peace Prize.
And Musk should do something about the manner in which Trump delivers: “I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”
What the heck is that, “it will only get worse”? Peacenik and peacemakers! If one is against wars, the other is also a famous piece of firearm, don’t know whether it is a pistol or a revolver, though? What must have made Elon happy must be Trump saying he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu when they meet on July 7.
The end of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran provided a “window of opportunity” for a deal and Trump is a collector of peace-deals just like Musk is a collector of children and billions of dollars on the barrel. If Trump was an Indian he would have been living on Dalal Street and if Musk was an Indian, he would be living in a Delhi slum.
Mumbai because Mumbai’s Dharavi has gone to Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and is no longer available. And Adani is more adept at negotiating than even Prime Minister Narendra Modi who President Trump said is a superior negotiator than Trump will ever be.
But it is Trump who is forever talking about his “superior negotiation skills”, to the extent that he has written a book on the art! Now in his second term, Trump had vowed to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine in the first “24 hours” of the 47th’s presidency. Trump lost that bet and he’s taking credit for the thaw in Israel-Hamas, which impressed Elon Musk no end.
Musk is hard to please. The more the merrier is Musk’s idea of fun while President Trump’s is to have fun with New York City mayor hopeful Zohran Mamdani, a “true-blue communist”. Trump can’t wait to get some fun out of hounding Mamdani and start deportation proceedings.
Trump has threatened Musk, too, with deportation but Musk is salivating at the prospect of “escalating tensions” with President Trump. There is no chance there will be a “peace deal” between Trump and Musk. President Trump has ‘Truth Social’ and Elon Musk has ‘X’ and the twain never agree though they’re quite okay with mixing metaphors!
Trump’s zeal for peace deals and tariff trade-offs have turned White House into an “adda”. Trump’s “Liberation Day” duties included “ready to do anything while trying to negotiate trade deals with me”. Let no Indian forget Trump’s claim that he threatened to strangle trade talks with India and if it didn’t agree to a “ceasefire” with Pakistan.
And Trump wouldn’t stop trumpeting this lie, till the other day when India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar let the cat out of the bag, saying “I was in the room when Vice President JD Vance called!”
Trump should get Musk to help him with the telephone calls. Musk has the money! What’s $5 billion against $350 billion, pittance? But the escalation between Trump and Musk stops short of reaching a point of no return. It is like Trump and Musk are orchestrating the biggest show on Earth!
Could that be true? A charade and a make-believe that will keep both megalomaniacs in humour and the world a better place. Trump’s cryptocurrency capers and Elon Musk’s peculiar family preferences, especially the “children part”, with 14 and counting. Trump found time to indulge while for Musk it’s still a work in progress!
Add to that Musk’s names for his children! Trump can’t beat Musk in name-calling. There’s no fight between Barron and Musk’s son, ‘X AE-XII’? Musk’s children add up to a dozen plus two. There were 13 Musk and then there was another, the final frontier but definitely not the final kid to tow! President Trump can try but it will be Musk who will live longer and longer! (IPA Service)
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