The Rift
A Novel Based on True Events
PART 2: The Break
(From Election Night 2024 to the Final Public Rift)
Chapter 1: The Unexpected Victory
November 5, 2024.
Just past midnight, every major network confirmed it:
“Donald J. Trump wins the 2024 United States presidential election, reclaiming the White House after a single term out.”1
Celebration erupted at Mar-a-Lago. Trump raised a fist and told donors in the ballroom,
“This is not just a comeback. This is vengeance.”
The next morning, in a windowless conference room at Starbase, Elon Musk stared at his phone. News alerts scrolled across the screen. CNN. Fox. CNBC.
He opened Signal and typed:
“This is going to be wild.”
He didn’t smile. He didn’t blink.
Chapter 2: The Courtship Begins
Trump’s transition team knew optics mattered. They reached out to Musk, offering a public role in a “Strategic Innovation Council”—a PR-friendly gesture.
Musk attended one closed-door meeting in December. Cameras caught a handshake. Trump grinned for the press:
“Elon’s a smart guy. We like smart people. We’re going to work together. Rockets and roads and stuff.”
Musk remained measured. He suggested regulatory sandboxes for AI, green tech incentives, and space-commercialisation infrastructure.
But Trump was more focused on domestic energy revival and manufacturing incentives.2
Behind the scenes, Trump privately dismissed Musk’s concerns as “tech fluff.”3
Chapter 3: Cracks in the Glass
January 2025.
Trump signed an executive order eliminating key EV tax incentives, citing their “unnecessary burden on taxpayers.”4 Musk was not informed beforehand.
Tesla shares fell 5% overnight.
“This is sabotage,” Musk told Tesla’s board. “Political, not economic.”
He tried to raise the issue through White House backchannels. The reply was short:
“National interests first.”
Days later, Trump addressed a pro-coal summit in West Virginia:
“Green tech? It’s a racket. We’re bringing back American energy, not battery boy scams.”5
The cameras captured it. The internet reposted it. Musk watched the clip and said only:
“So we’re doing this now.”
Chapter 4: The Dinner That Broke It
February 2025. White House private dinner. Musk was seated between a defense contractor and a pipeline lobbyist.
He tried again. Calmly, he pressed for energy transition support and digital infrastructure investment.
Trump waved him off with a smirk.
“Elon, stick to rockets. We’ve got real jobs to protect.”
Some laughed. Musk didn’t.
Back at his hotel, he tweeted:
“Some people are too stuck in the past to build the future.”6
It went viral. It was read as a veiled rebuke.
Trump’s media team flagged it. Trump reportedly replied:
“Ungrateful clown.”
Chapter 5: Retaliation and Revelation
March 2025.
Inside the West Wing, staff warned Trump: “Musk is drifting. He’s boosting third-party voices. He’s undermining the message.”
Trump gave a clear order:
“Pull the plug on contracts—NASA, DoD, whoever’s paying him. Quietly.”7
Almost immediately, the Department of Defense announced a review of SpaceX launch schedules and its Starlink military integrations.8
In response, Musk didn’t tweet about policy. He posted something darker:
“Trump appears in sealed government files connected to Epstein. This isn’t over. Truth comes out eventually.”9
The post exploded. It trended for 72 hours.
— Joe Rogan reposted it with a wide-eyed emoji.
— Tesla’s stock dropped 7%.
— Trump’s legal team issued a denial.
Trump fired back on Truth Social:
“Elon Musk has gone insane. I never trusted him after I ended the EV scam. Sad!”10
The alliance was dead.
Musk deleted the tweet. But not the implications.
“You don’t win this on Twitter,” he told his senior counsel. “You win by building alternatives.”
That same week, he launched a new civic project:
The America Party – For 80% in the Middle. Post-partisan, pro-innovation, anti-corruption.
It wasn’t a party. Not yet.
But it was a challenge.
End of Part 2
Next: Part 3 – Enemies in the Arena
The public rift becomes political warfare. Investigations, cyberattacks, and reputational tactics escalate. As government and tech begin to collide, the real question becomes: who controls the future?
Footnotes
- Associated Press. (2024). Live Results: Trump Defeats Biden in Electoral College Victory. November 5, 2024.
- The White House Transition Memo, December 2024, excerpted in Politico, Jan 2025.
- Haberman, M. (2025). “Trump’s Second-Term Energy Playbook,” New York Times, January 2025.
- U.S. Federal Register, Executive Order 14091: Reallocation of Green Energy Funds, Jan 16, 2025.
- Trump Speech at WV Energy Forum, February 2025. Transcribed by C-SPAN.
- Musk, E. (2025). [Tweet/X Post], Feb 10, 2025.
- Axios. (2025). “Trump Administration Reviews SpaceX Contracts After Elon Feud.” March 2025.
- Department of Defense Briefing Notes – SpaceX Military Integration Audit, March 3, 2025.
- Musk, E. (2025). [Tweet], March 4, 2025 (later deleted; archived by Internet Archive).
- Truth Social Statement by Donald J. Trump, March 5, 2025.