#TrumpVsMusk

What happens when the richest person in the world and the most powerful politician on the planet face off in a death match?

The world may be about to find out.

The clash between Elon Musk and Donald Trump began to simmer slowly last week, started to boil on Wednesday, and is now in full boil. And like everything these two men do, the implosion of their relationship is coming to light.

Trump and Musk have the two biggest megaphones in the world and are now using them to attack each other.

He expressed his surprise at Musk's criticism of his "great and beautiful" budget legislation. He refuted the billionaire's claim that he would have lost last year's presidential election without the support of the hundreds of millions of dollars from the Tesla founder.

And he said that Musk was only changing his tone now because his automotive company will be harmed by the Republican initiative to eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles.

Musk, for his part, insisted that he did not care about car subsidies. He wants to reduce the national debt, which he says represents an existential threat to the country. He insisted that without his help, the Democrats would have won last year's elections.

"What ingratitude!" he told Trump.

The billionaire launched a series of extraordinary attacks throughout the afternoon, including the unproven suggestion that Trump appears in unpublished files related to the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

The BBC contacted the White House for comments.