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Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s months-long alliance imploded on Thursday. Once close allies are now locked in a heated public feud.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has announced the retirement of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, hours after Trump threatened to cancel government contracts tied to Musk’s companies.
The rift erupted over Musk’s criticism of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” It quickly escalated into a political standoff, with both men trading sharp jabs and accusations. Musk accused President Donald Trump of being named in the sealed Jeffrey Epstein files — claiming that’s the “real reason” they’ve never been fully released.
The trouble between the two built up over the week. On Tuesday, Musk began denouncing Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill. The president held his tongue while Musk, his former adviser, campaigned to torpedo the bill, saying it would add too much to the nation’s $36.2 trillion in debt.
HERE’S HOW MUSK VS TRUMP MELTDOWN UNFOLDED
- During a press briefing with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump said, “I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.” He suggested Musk was upset because the EV tax incentive was removed from the bill and questioned whether their friendship would continue.
- Calling out the legislative process behind Trump’s bill, Musk tweeted: “False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”
- In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” adding, “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
- Following Trump’s threat to revoke federal support, Musk announced the shutdown of a major space program. “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” he posted.
- Elon also accused President Donald Trump of being named in the sealed Jeffrey Epstein files. “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”
- Elon Musk backed a user’s call for Trump’s impeachment on X. In response to a post saying, “President vs. Elon. Who wins? My money’s on Elon. . . Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him,” Musk simply replied: “Yes.”
- Trump hinted that Musk’s vocal opposition to his bill — referred to by the administration as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — stems from the removal of the electric vehicle incentive. Trump added that Musk “knew the inner workings of the bill,” despite Musk denying having seen it.
- Musk hit back at Trump’s comments, saying, “Without me,” Trump would have lost the election. He claimed Democrats would control the House and Republicans would only have a slim Senate majority, accusing Trump of “such ingratitude.”
- Elon Musk warned on X that Trump’s tariffs could trigger a recession in the second half of the year.
- Trump defended his proposed legislation. On Truth social, he wrote: “I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It’s a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. If this Bill doesn’t pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn’t create this mess, I’m just here to FIX IT. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
