Following the implosion of U.S. President Donald Trump’s bromance with the world’s richest man Elon Musk on Thursday, European politicians indulged an emotion they haven’t felt recently toward Washington: Schadenfreude.
Radosław Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, went for a classic rendition of the German loanword for taking delight in another’s misfortune.
“See, big man, politics is harder than you thought,” he said on X, Musk’s own social media platform. The barb was squarely aimed at the tech billionaire, who had previously called Sikorski “small man” in a war of words on X in March.
Thierry Breton, Europe’s former internal market commissioner who repeatedly clashed with both Musk and Trump, also appeared to take pleasure in the bust-up of their bromance, posting an eyes emoji and a popcorn emoji as the American president and his one-time close adviser and top political benefactor exchanged barbs on Thursday.
The Trump-Musk relationship deteriorated rapidly after Musk left the White House last week. The acrimony went public when Musk publicly slammed Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package on Tuesday and continued to lash out at the White House in the days since, escalating on Thursday into full-blown trolling.
Taking to X, Musk said Trump’s tariffs would cause a recession, suggested the president should be impeached — and made allegations related to Trump and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump, meanwhile, chastised the Tesla CEO from the Oval Office and threatened Musk’s companies.
