Playbook: “Elon Musk’s row with the GOP — and by extension, with Trump himself — had escalated through the day. Musk had continued his relentless attacks on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ dropping another 32 hostile posts in the hours before Trump took to the stage. Speaker Mike Johnson admitted publicly what Playbook had already told you — that Trump was not impressed. The WSJ had just dropped a buzzy follow-up about the anger in the White House. Almost every major news site was leading on the Musk story for a second-consecutive day.”

“And then, everything changed. At the push of a button just before 7:45 p.m. Trump delivered a blizzard of headline-grabbing announcements which sent even the world’s richest man tumbling down the news agenda. There was something for everyone — a major policy shift on immigration; a vindictive attack on a world-famous U.S. institution; a conspiracy-fueling inquiry into an old political foe. All three were red meat for the MAGA right. And no one was talking about Musk any more.”

“Elon has quite the platform — 220 million followers on one of the world’s most-influential social media platforms. But even Musk cannot compete with the bully pulpit of the American presidency. Musk can only tweet. Trump can pull the levers of power, and with brutal force.”

Author Michael Wolff told the Daily Beast that Donald Trump’s signature hairdo “is all about grabbing maximum attention.”

Earlier for members: What Their Hair Says About Their Politics

“President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to assert control over an elite American cultural institution has turned into a high-stakes Washington standoff,” the Washington Post reports.

“In defiance of Trump’s announcement last Friday that he was firing her, Kim Sajet — the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery — has continued to report for work, conducting meetings and handling other museum business as she did before.”

Wall Street Journal: “A senior White House official said Trump wasn’t happy about Musk’s decision to lambaste his signature legislation, describing the president as confused as to why the Tesla chief executive decided to ratchet up his criticism after working so closely with the president for four months. The official said senior Trump advisers were caught off guard by Musk’s latest offensive.”

“The uneasy alliance between the two men was also strained by a recent move by the White House to nix Trump’s nominee to run NASA, Jared Isaacman… Musk, a close ally of Isaacman, had advocated for him to get the job.”

“The decision infuriated Musk, who complained to associates over the weekend that he had donated hundreds of millions of dollars to help get Trump elected in last year’s campaign, only to see Isaacman’s nomination pulled… Musk’s frustration over the NASA episode made him more willing to aggressively criticize the tax bill.”

Earlier for members: Tensions Boil Over Between Trump and Musk

“President Donald Trump is frustrated with Elon Musk for slamming the administration’s chief legislative priority, but isn’t taking it personally — a distinction that’s helped keep a lid on the White House’s response so far,” Politico reports.

“Yet as Musk’s attacks stretch into their second day, administration officials are wondering how long the peace will hold.”