What did Donald Trump do today?

He spent pretty much his whole work day "not thinking" about Elon Musk.

The rift that erupted yesterday between Trump and Elon Musk, his chief political patron, was shocking in its intensity—though, as many people pointed out, also extremely predictable.

Since yesterday, Trump has accused Musk of being a corrupt official who sought to influence policy and legislation for his personal gain, a liar, and an opportunist. He referenced Musk's "CRAZY" behavior several times, talked about how irritating he'd found it to tolerate Musk's presence, and suggested that the man he'd given a ceremonial golden key to last week had serious mental health issues. Trump also said he was considering selling the Tesla he "bought" from Musk in a full-day Tesla commercial hosted at the White House in March, and threatened to cancel the government contracts that fund virtually all of Musk's businesses and are the ultimate source of his wealth. 

Separately, but in concert with Trump's barrage of complaints, his White House team amplified allies who called for the re-starting of investigations into Musk's companies that were underway during the Biden administration, or even stripping him of his citizenship on the grounds that it had been fraudulently obtained.

Musk, for his part, said that Trump was old and unlikely to hold on to power for much longer and took credit for him being elected in the first place. He repeated his critique of Trump's "disgusting abomination" of a budget bill, dared Trump to make good on the threat to cancel his contracts, called Trump a liar, posted video of times Trump had praised him. Musk also threatened to start a political party for "the middle 80%," which was generally interpreted as a threat at Republicans who sided with Trump.

Musk—who used Trump's executive authority like a blank check for the first few months of the term—also implied that he had proof that Trump was implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's child sex trafficking ring. (Trump and Epstein were friends, and long before Epstein's crimes came to light, Trump joked publicly about Epstein's sexual tastes for "younger" women. Trump also accepted flights the private jet that Epstein used to ferry clients to the base of his trafficking operation.) 

In spite of all the drama, Trump insisted this morning in a call with CNN's Dana Bash that he hadn't given it much thought. "I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem."

Trump also called up reporters at least three other news networks before noon to talk about how he wasn't thinking about Musk: Jonathan Karl at ABC News, Robert Costa at CBS News, and Bret Baier at Fox News.

"Not even thinking about Elon" took up virtually all of Trump's work day. He appeared for about twenty minutes total at two afternoon events and then was en route to his private golf resort by 3:00 P.M. for his usual long weekend.

Why does this matter?

• It's bad that Trump gave absolutely unchecked executive powers to someone he thinks is a lying, corrupt, mentally unstable person who profits from wasteful government spending. 

• It's bad that Musk propped up a president he thinks is an ungrateful, faltering, incompetent extremist and pedophile who doesn't understand that he's been bought and paid for. 

• It's extremely bad that both of them are making pretty reasonable points. 

• Nobody who is not absolutely obsessed over interpersonal drama calls four different networks in the space of a single morning to talk about it. 

• This is what the President of the United States did with his day.