(CNN) — About 10 minutes into his bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday, President Donald Trump was finally asked about the domestic elephant in the room: Elon Musk and his sharp criticisms this week of Trump’s agenda bill.

“He hasn’t said anything about me that’s bad,” Trump said. “I’d rather have him criticize me than the bill.”

Trump certainly got his wish. By the end of the meeting, he and Musk had quickly moved from what had been a legislative difference of opinion into the realm of personal attacks . Musk effectively live-tweeted his responses to Trump’s comments on his social media platform X, getting progressively more personal. And Trump ultimately hit back hard on his own platform, Truth Social.

It was the kind of clash many predicted wou

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