The Rift
A Novel Based on True Events – Trump vs Musk
PART 4: Collapse or Convergence
Chapter 1: Independence Day Fallout
July 4, 2025.
Trump stood on the South Lawn, his silhouette framed by a halo of red, white, and blue fireworks. In his hand, he held the freshly signed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, raising it high to the roar of MAGA influencers and lawmakers around him1.
“USA! USA! USA!” echoed across the marble columns.
“We’ve saved America from the tech tyrants and the debt dealers,” he proclaimed, voice booming through the humid dusk.
Far away in Texas, Elon Musk sat alone in his Starbase office, screens glowing with the broadcast. Hours earlier, he had posted a simple poll on X:
Should we form a new party to represent the 80% in the middle?2
The results were decisive. Over 65% had voted yes.
Now, as the final fireworks faded into drifting smoke, he typed deliberately:
Today, the America Party is born. Not left. Not right. Forward.
He read it once more, his thumb hovering over ‘post’. The symbolism was deliberate. Independence Day. The birth of a new political force. His eyes flickered with resolve as he pressed the screen.
Chapter 2: The Bureaucratic Wall
Within days, Musk’s political dream collided with America’s entrenched electoral defences. Ballot access laws loomed like iron gates3.
California demanded over 1.1 million valid signatures. Texas required 83,000 registered party members for ballot eligibility. Worse, the Federal Election Commission had been left without quorum – unable to process new national party filings4.
Trump had deliberately withheld appointments to keep it that way5.
“They’ve rigged the rules to protect the duopoly,” Musk said during a midnight legal call, voice low but electric with determination. “We’ll build around it.”
By dawn, America PAC was born – a funding arm designed to bypass structural barriers, backing independent candidates in swing districts to fracture Congress from within6.
“We don’t need to win it all,” he told his advisors, looking out over the flat Texas horizon. “We just need enough to make them negotiate.”
Chapter 3: MAGA Fractures
Inside the GOP, tremors turned to fissures.
Representative Thomas Massie endorsed Musk’s fiscal approach publicly7. Marjorie Taylor Greene praised his “courage to challenge the swamp,” and Tucker Carlson hinted at joining the America Party “if it stays anti-establishment.”
Trump, raging privately, posted curtly on Truth Social:
Third parties are chaos. Elon is a TRAIN WRECK. Sad!8
On his podcast, Steve Bannon leaned into the camera, eyes dark with fury.
“Elon Musk is a clown,” he growled. “Deport him if he wants to play president here.”9
Hours later, Trump reposted Bannon’s clip with a terse caption:
“We’ll have to take a look.”10
Chapter 4: The Shadow Moves
Retaliation arrived swiftly, cloaked as bureaucracy.
SpaceX lost a $3 billion satellite contract to Boeing11. Tesla received notification of intensified EPA emissions reviews12. Neuralink’s pending FDA clearance was suspended indefinitely13.
Musk sat in silence that evening, phone in hand, reading each notification like a chess move revealed.
He tweeted:
They’re not regulating. They’re retaliating.14
Leaks soon flooded X – internal government memos, whistleblower files, and hints of surveillance programs targeting civic tech platforms15. Musk reposted one memo, captioning it simply:
They fear what they can’t control.16
Chapter 5: The Proxy War
By late July, America PAC was fully operational. It funnelled funds into twelve House races and three Senate seats, seeking leverage rather than majority17.
“We don’t need 51%,” Musk explained in an Austin strategy room, his voice calm. “We need to end their monopoly on choice.”
Trump’s campaign retaliated with ads labelling him a “foreign-born disruptor,” his accent digitally warped to sound alien18.
Musk responded in an X Spaces broadcast:
I’m more American than anyone who sells out the future for pork.
The feud was no longer personal. It had become structural – innovation clashing with legacy power in an existential contest.
Chapter 6: The Tipping Point
August 2025.
A leaked DOJ memo landed like a seismic shockwave. Marked “Confidential – Internal Deliberations,” it suggested invoking the Logan Act against Musk for “unauthorised international tech diplomacy,” citing his Starlink negotiations with global leaders19.
That evening, Musk stood atop a metal launch platform at Starbase, wind tousling his hair, rockets gleaming behind him in the dying sun. The livestream camera framed his silhouette against a glowing sky.
“This isn’t about me,” he said, his voice steady and edged with defiance. “It’s about whether innovation can coexist with legacy power.”
He paused, eyes fixed on the camera.
“We’re not in a feud,” he finished quietly. “We’re in a fork.”
He stepped away, leaving only the sound of distant engines humming in the Texan dusk.
Footnotes
- MSN – Trump and Musk renew their feud; Forbes – Feud Timeline; Independent – Full Timeline ↩
- TIME – Musk Announces America Party; NBC News – How the project could disrupt politics; MSN – Ultra-rich respond to Musk’s party ↩
- Independent – America Party hurdles; NBC News – Third-party viability ↩
- Independent – FEC appointment gridlock history ↩
- Forbes – Trump’s use of appointments for strategic leverage ↩
- TIME – Musk’s PAC strategy explored ↩
- Hypothetical endorsement extrapolated from Massie’s libertarian policy alignment ↩
- Fictional quote; stylistic projection from Trump’s rhetorical patterns ↩
- Bloomberg – Trump comments on deportation; Bannon commentary stylised from podcast tone ↩
- Fictional repost constructed for narrative coherence ↩
- Fictional event; plausible competitive contract dynamics ↩
- Forbes – Regulatory tensions timeline ↩
- Fictional event; no public suspension as of July 2025 ↩
- Fictional tweet; aligns with Musk’s known public style ↩
- Fictional leak; grounded in historical precedents (e.g. Snowden, PRISM) ↩
- Fictional repost; Musk’s phrasing reflects documented usage ↩
- TIME – Musk’s political strategy speculation ↩
- Fictional campaign ad; rhetorical style consistent with anti-immigrant ad history ↩
- Newsweek – Logan Act speculation regarding Musk; AS USA – Background on Logan Act relevance ↩