The New York Times, June 2025
Since taking office in January, President Trump has faced almost no meaningful opposition. Congress has been acquiescent and conspicuously uninterested in oversight. He has bulldozed past the courts to impose his will on immigration policy and exact retribution on law firms and universities. Conservative media outlets have backed him and his agenda, and some mainstream news organizations have been cowed.
But now Mr. Trump is not just confronting a powerful foe for the first time this year — he is going toe-to-toe with an angry rival in Elon Musk, who has the capacity to sustain a fight and shares the president’s go-for-jugular instincts and willingness to scorch the earth to achieve even short-term advantage.
