The moment had finally come, and it was every bit as lowdown, vindictive, personal, petty, operatic, childish, consequential, messy and public as many had always expected it would be.

这一刻终于来了，而且正如众人所预料的那样——卑劣、睚眦必报、充满私人恩怨、斤斤计较、戏剧化、幼稚、必然、丑陋，而且是在众目睽睽之下。

“One thing’s for sure,” Elon Musk posted on X midway through his relentless hourslong attack on Donald Trump, “it ain’t boring!”

“有一点是可以肯定的，”埃隆·马斯克在X平台上对唐纳德·特朗普发起长达数小时的猛烈抨击时写道，“绝对不无聊！”

The clash of the titans was upon us, and the gloves were off.

一场巨人的对决摆在了我们面前，双方已经撕破脸。

The speed of the fallout was breathtaking. Up until about 14 seconds ago, Mr. Musk was flying on Mr. Trump’s planes, staying at his homes, socializing with his children. On Friday, Mr. Trump celebrated him with an Oval Office farewell address and gave him a novelty, oversize key to the White House.

事态发展的速度令人咋舌。就在不久前，马斯克还乘坐特朗普的私人飞机，住在他的家里，并与他的子女交好。周五，特朗普还在椭圆形办公室举行的欢送仪式上表彰了他，赠予他一把新奇有趣的超大尺寸白宫钥匙。

But all was not well. Mr. Musk had been stewing about the sweeping domestic policy bill that the White House was pushing through Congress. By Thursday afternoon, he started spitting venom.

但暗流早已涌动。马斯克一直对白宫正在国会强行推进的一项涉及面广泛的国内政策法案耿耿于怀。到周四下午，他开始恶语相向。

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Mr. Musk wrote on X. “Such ingratitude.”

“没有我，特朗普根本赢不了大选，”马斯克在X上写道，“真是忘恩负义。”

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is!

有个忘恩负义的朋友，比毒蛇的牙还要伤人！

Usually, when Mr. Trump has a big, messy falling-out in public, it is with someone who needs him, a lesser being who lives in fear of a primary challenge or somehow being ruined. But now he was beefing with the rare person who has leverage over him — political and financial leverage and perhaps even some emotional leverage. When Mr. Trump said on Thursday that he was “very disappointed in Elon,” he sounded as if he meant it.

通常，当特朗普与人公开决裂时，对方都是依附于他的小角色——地位较低、害怕初选挑战或担心被他“毁掉”的人。但这次与他发生冲突的，却是少数能对他施加影响的人物——一个在政治、经济甚至情感层面都握有筹码的对手。当特朗普周四表示“对埃隆非常失望”时，他的语气听起来确实发自肺腑。

But Mr. Trump, being the president of the United States, had some leverage of his own.

但作为美国总统，特朗普也不是没有杀手锏。

He mused on Truth Social that the “easiest way to save money in our Budget” would be to wipe out Mr. Musk’s government subsidies and contracts. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” Mr. Trump added, causing Mr. Musk to erupt further.

他在Truth Social上若有所思地说道，“节省预算的最简单方法”就是取消马斯克的政府补贴与合同。特朗普还说：“我一直很惊讶拜登竟然没这么做！”这番话让马斯克更加暴跳如雷。

There was a screwball element to their back-and-forth: Because Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk are each the masters of their own social media platform, neither one was directly replying to the other. Anyone following along at home (which is to say, everyone) had to toggle between platforms to keep up with these keyboard cowboys as they aimed shots at each other.

这场你来我往的对决有个怪诞的地方：由于特朗普和马斯克都各自掌控着自己的社交媒体平台，他们都不是直接回复对方。任何在家中围观的人（也就是所有人）都必须在两个平台之间来回切换，才能跟上这场键盘上的战争。

“THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING” was a top trending topic on Mr. Musk’s platform Thursday. There was a schoolyard aspect to their scrap as many on the playground rushed to jump in. “SPICY,” Laura Loomer posted. “hey @realDonaldTrump lmk if u need any breakup advice,” posted Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Mr. Musk’s children. Mr. Musk began to hit the “unfollow” button on accounts belonging to close Trump allies such as Charlie Kirk and Stephen Miller.

周四，“姑娘们打起来了”成为马斯克平台上的热门话题。这场争执充满校园打架的色彩，许多“吃瓜群众”争相加入战局。劳拉·卢默发帖说：“火爆！”马斯克其中一个孩子的母亲阿什利·圣克莱尔则发帖说：“嘿@realDonaldTrump，如果你需要任何分手建议，告诉我一声。”马斯克开始取关查理·柯克和斯蒂芬·米勒等特朗普亲密盟友的账号。

埃隆·马斯克发帖称，没有他的帮助，特朗普赢不了大选。“真是忘恩负义，”他写道。

Four hours into the shootout, a peacekeeper emerged in the form of Kanye West. “Broooos please noooooo,” he posted on X with an emoji of two people hugging. “We love you both so much.”

鏖战四小时后，一位和事佬出现了，他就是坎耶·维斯特。“兄弟们，别啊啊啊，”他在X上发帖，还配了拥抱的表情符，“我们非常爱你们俩。”

But they seemed far beyond the point of hugging it out. A line had been crossed that probably could never be uncrossed. “Time to drop the really big bomb,” Mr. Musk wrote shortly after 3 p.m., “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” The implication that Mr. Trump is somehow connected to Mr. Epstein’s crimes was an especially explosive one to make, given that large swaths of Mr. Trump’s base remain so animated by the sordid details of that particular case.

但这显然已经不是一个拥抱能解决的问题。某些界限一旦跨越就再难回头。“是时候投下重磅炸弹了，”马斯克在下午三点后写道，“@realDonaldTrump的名字出现在爱泼斯坦文件里。这才是文件迟迟不敢公开的真正原因。祝你有个愉快的一天，DJT！”（DJT是特朗普的姓名缩写。——译注）将特朗普与爱泼斯坦罪行挂钩的暗示极具杀伤力，毕竟此案细节至今仍能引爆特朗普选民的敏感神经。

“Some food for thought,” Mr. Musk wrote in another especially cutting post. “Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years.”

马斯克在另一篇尤其刻薄的帖子中写道：“友情提示：特朗普的总统任期还剩3.5年，但我还会活40多年。”

Questions swirled above the fray: Just how hard might Mr. Trump, who has been shown to have no qualms about weaponizing government, actually go after Mr. Musk? Are Tesla and SpaceX about to get DOGE’d?

纷争背后疑云密布：向来擅长将公权力武器化的特朗普，究竟会对马斯克下多重的手？特斯拉与SpaceX是否会像狗狗币一样遭遇重创？

What would happen to that red Tesla that Mr. Musk parked at the White House, the one that Mr. Trump’s young aides love to drive around and post pictures from?

停放在白宫的那辆红色特斯拉会怎样？特朗普的年轻助手们喜欢开着它兜风并发布照片。

And would Mr. Musk have to send back his key to the White House?

而马斯克，是否需要归还那把白宫钥匙呢？

特朗普购买的红色特斯拉，周四摄于白宫外。