Longtime Trump pal decodes 'message' president sent to Musk in Friday phone call

CNN's Dana Bash spoke with Donald Trump by phone Friday morning, and she said one of his former allies explained why the president had taken her call.

The broadcaster said she called the president on his personal cell phone from her own, and Bash reported that he tried to turn the topic of their conversation away form his feud with Elon Musk to economic matters, although he did jab his former ally, saying "the poor guy's got problems" but wished him well.

"They both have a lot to lose here, a lot to lose," Bash said. "I was texting with a former longtime friend of Donald Trump who said, you know, don't kid yourself, that one of the reasons he wanted to get the message out in the conversation he had with me, and he talked to a couple of other reporters this morning, is to try to send a message to Musk. Yeah, he's still mad and he's very upset with him but, like, you know, 'I'm calming down here,' because the president has a lot to lose here."

"Among the many things that Elon Musk has is a huge, huge megaphone, huge megaphone, his 200-and-something million followers," Bash added. "But also has his hands on the algorithm of that profile, that platform on X."

CNN's Aaron Blake said the feud had the potential to divide the MAGA movement, but he said most Republicans would side with the president.

"There was a lot of talk yesterday about who would Republicans choose, Trump or Musk, and I think it's pretty clear, you know, the vast majority of Republicans are going to side with Trump," Blake said. "This is the guy they've been with for a long time. He has real sway over that movement, but that doesn't mean that Musk, you know, deserting Trump and causing problems for him isn't a real problem for these people. You know, we saw it yesterday in one of Musk's posts, which I thought was really interesting, which was like, 'Trump is going to be around for three and a half years as president, I'm going to be here for 40-plus years.'"

"That, to me was Musk pointing at not just his war chest, but also his influence on his social media platform," Blake added. "Basically, you know, you guys shouldn't leap to join Donald Trump. You may not choose me, but you shouldn't leap to join Donald Trump because you'll have to deal with me for the foreseeable future."

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