Donald Trump vs Elon Musk: What started as a ‘big, beautiful’ bromance between US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk ended in a public feud that escalated to a point of a possible no return.
The very public spat between Donald Trump and Elon Musk reached its peak on Thursday when the Tesla CEO launched a barrage of attacks on the President on social media.
Here is everything that happened between Donald Trump and Elon Musk since he left the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Elon Musk leaves DOGE
Elon Musk last week announced his decision to leave the White House and DOGE, citing that his tenure as a special government employee had come to an end. “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” he said in a post on X.
Donald Trump gives Tesla CEO a farewell
Days later, Trump announced he would organise a press conference with Elon Musk to bid him farewell. Everything between the duo seemed okay at the time, though Musk had previously criticised Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ intended to cut taxes.
Trump was full of praise for Musk. He called Musk “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced”, seemingly downplaying the rift that was already brewing between them with the Tesla CEO being ‘disappointed’ with the provisions of the bill.
Musk lashes out at Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
The rift between the world’s most powerful leader and the world’s richest person took a public turn on June 3, with Elon Musk blasting Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” of tax breaks and spending cuts as a “disgusting abomination”.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk posted on X. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
However, Trump did not lash out like he typically does.
Tesla CEO escalates fight – Epstein files and more
Trump’s silence did not stop Musk from backing off. On Thursday, the spat became very public when the Tesla CEO made a series of posts on X, sharing 2013 posts of the President.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk claimed.
He continued to make further claims, eventually dropping a bombshell that the Jeffery Epstein files were not released in full because Donald Trump was involved in the case.
Donald Trump hits back
Eventually, Donald Trump let slip that he was disappointed in his former adviser, prompting Musk to unleash a flood of insults and taunts.
Trump could hold back no longer. He posted that Musk had been “wearing thin,” that he had “asked him to leave” his administration, that the tech titan had “gone CRAZY.”
Truce in sight?
After a series of X posts lambasting the President and threatening to decommission a space capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station, Musk agreed that he would not do it.
It was unclear how serious Musk’s threat was, but several hours later — in a reply to another X user — he said he wouldn’t do it.
This gave way to some people thinking of a possible truce in sight, with Trump’s White House aides reportedly arranging to schedule a call with the POTUS and Tesla CEO on Friday.
POTUS refuses to talk
However, quashing all hopes, a White House official said on Friday that Trump was not interested to talk to Musk, at least today.
The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that no phone call between Trump and the Tesla CEO was planned for the day. Earlier, a different White House official had said the two were going to talk.
Tesla stocks volatile
Tesla shares rose on Friday, managing to claw back some steep losses from the previous session when it dropped 14 per cent and lost $150 billion in value, the largest single-day decline in the company’s history.
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