It remains to be seen whether President Donald Trump and Elon Musk can patch things up after their ugly break-up this week – as many around them are hoping.

Musk is not about to overtake Trump himself as the dominant figure in the party, to be clear. But the jilted former “special government employee” is uniquely suited to become a chaos agent who could terrorize the GOP — potentially wreaking havoc on Trump’s legislative agenda and the party’s midterm election plans.

The falling-out between two alpha males made for astonishing social-media theater, but didn't come as a surprise. From tariffs to the national debt, differences between the erstwhile allies were hardly hidden.