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President Donald Trump and Tesla (TSLA-3.33%) CEO Elon Musk tore into one another on Thursday, as their close alliance collapsed in front of cameras and on social media.
The billionaire breakup that’s playing out this week encompasses a little bit of everything: the 2024 election, lucrative federal contracts, the Republican agenda, Musk’s recent black eye, and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The rift threatens the GOP’s access to the deep pockets of a wealthy donor who spent big on its behalf in the last election cycle.
For two days, Trump held off from publicly responding to Musk’s unending criticisms of the Republican’s sweeping domestic policy bill. But any restraint meant to preserve a bond he once prized had melted away by noon Thursday.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I was surprised.”
“I’d rather he criticize me than the bill,” Trump said, adding, “I’m very disappointed in Elon.”
The president kept stirring the cauldron. Trump suggested Musk was pummeling the GOP legislation out of self-interest, since it would eliminate federal tax incentives for electric vehicles that aided Tesla.
“He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it,” Trump said. “All of a sudden, he had a problem. And he only developed the problem when he found out that we’re going to have to cut the EV mandate.”
Musk — who once called himself Trump’s “first buddy” at the start of his second term — fired back within minutes on X, and their political breakup unfolded in real-time. The volatile billionaires would wind up reaching for familiar tools: their social media platforms. The feud broke out in a remarkably swift, stunning fashion for everyone to gaze at.
“Whatever,” Musk said in an X post. “Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.”
“Slim and beautiful is the way,” Musk added in a separate post.
The mudslinging didn’t stop there. Trump took it to another level and threatened to cut Musk’s extensive federal contracts.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
Musk responded: “Go ahead, make my day.” Tesla shares fell 14% by the close of financial trading on Thursday, extending their weeklong drop.
Earlier this year, Musk was handed virtually unlimited authority to spearhead a federal cost-cutting campaign via the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The Tesla chief executive exited his special advisory role last week with a a warm Oval Office sendoff and a golden key from Trump.
Those well-wishes now appear to be vanishing in the rearview mirror.
Musk also questioned Trump’s political skills and attempted to take credit for the president’s re-election. The Tesla chief executive poured $288 million to support Trump and GOP candidates in the 2024 election, per The Washington Post.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk said.
“Such ingratitude,” Musk wrote in a follow-up post. He floated abandoning the Republican Party, and spent much of the day firing off critical X posts against GOP leaders Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, among others.
Musk didn’t wrap it up there. He went on to proclaim it was “time to drop the really big bomb” and said Trump “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day DJT!”
Musk didn’t provide any evidence for his claim that the president’s name is in government documents related to the Epstein investigation. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Many Democrats feasted on the public brawl. Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware summed it up as “the Big Beautiful Breakup.”