Elon Musk&ndash;Donald Trump feud

Elon Musk–Donald Trump feud

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Since June 2025, the businessman and former presidential advisor Elon Musk and U.S. president Donald Trump have been involved in a feud, primarily across Twitter and Truth Social. The dispute began following Musk's exit from with his criticisms of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a bill intended to be landmark legislation for Trump.
Background
Musk and the second Trump administration
In the 2024 United States presidential election, Elon Musk contributed over million to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. In the Trump administration, Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency in an effort to dramatically restructure the federal bureaucracy. He served as a special government employee, limiting his tenure to 130 days.
Musk played a prominent role in campaigning during the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election, spending at least million through political action committees. His role in the election was a political liability for Brad Schimel. At the Qatar Economic Forum in May 2025, Musk said that he would scale back political spending. Musk told investors in Tesla that he would devote greater attention to his companies in April. The following month, Musk left the Trump administration in a farewell ceremony. Immediately after reporters left the Oval Office, Trump confronted Musk over political donations made to Democrats by Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally who was Trump's nominee administrator of NASA. Trump informed Isaacman hours later that his nomination was being withdrawn.
Musk's criticisms
After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, drafted by Trump and the Republican Party, passed the House of Representatives, Musk criticized it for increasing the deficit by trillion. Notably, he initially refrained from criticizing Trump himself. In June, Musk told CBS News Sunday Morning that the bill would reverse the Department of Government Efficiency's work.
Events
On June 5, 2025, Trump met with German chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office. During the meeting, Trump stated that he "had a great relationship" with Musk, that he was "disappointed" in Musk for criticizing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that he would have won the state of Pennsylvania in the 2024 presidential election without Musk and that he was critical of the bill over its cuts to electric vehicle subsidies rather than the national debt it would incur, and that Musk missed being in the White House, comparing him to former aides who became critical of Trump after leaving his administration.
In response to Trump's comment that Musk "knew the inner workings of the bill better than anybody" in the room, Musk said on the social media site X that he did not have the opportunity to read the bill. Musk, responding to Trump in real-time, said that Trump had "ingratitude" and would have lost the election if not for his political activities. Musk's posts included pointing out old posts from Trump chastising increases to the national debt, mockingly suggesting in one post that Trump was replaced by a "body double". He rejected Trump's claim that he began criticizing the bill after efforts to remove cuts for electric vehicle subsidies failed. Musk suggested that Trump was in the "Epstein files", the United States government's information on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to The New York Times, Musk unfollowed the X accounts of Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy and his homeland security advisor, as well as Charlie Kirk, a conservative influencer; the two men appeared on Kirk's show to praise the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Hours later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Musk went "CRAZY" after the "EV Mandate" was purportedly taken away. He then threatened to cut Musk's government contracts. That evening, Musk called for Trump's impeachment.
That night, Politico reported that Musk and Trump were scheduled to be on a call to reconcile. Responding to the hedge fund manager Bill Ackman's plea for the men to "make peace for the benefit of our great country", Musk said that he was "not wrong." The following day, the White House stated that no call was planned. The White House later said that Trump was selling the red Tesla Model S he received from Musk. Trump told ABC News that Musk had "lost his mind" and that he was not interested in speaking to Musk, and repeating in a CNN interview he won't be speaking to him in the near future. According to Bloomberg News, Trump aides signaled that Trump was moving on and that he would not cancel Musk's government contracts. The New York Times later reported that Trump attributed Musk's apparent "crazy" behavior to his alleged drug use.
Effects
Political
In one post, Musk suggested creating a political party to represent the "eighty percent in the middle". The New York Times wrote that the feud poses implications for the "Tech Right", a group of conservative entrepreneurs, including individuals who work for Trump, as well as risking million in political donations to Trump-affiliated organizations that Musk was set to give. The proposed name for the party by Musk himself was "The America Party".
Musk suggested that he would affect the electoral standing of lawmakers who did not support him in a post on Twitter. The dispute did not appear to affect the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Economic
Shares in Tesla, Inc. fell fifteen percent, its worst day since the COVID-19 pandemic. Trading volumes for Tesla put options exceeded four million contracts, the highest on record. Accoring to S3 Partners, short sellers accrued a cumulative billion; Tesla became the second-most shorted stock in the U.S. by total value. The fall in Tesla's share price brought consumer discretionary stocks to their worst day since April. Trump Media & Technology Group shares fell eight percent after Musk insinuated that Trump was in the Epstein files. Trump's cryptocurrency, , additionally fell twelve percent. The feud cost Musk billion.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the feud raised hopes from advertisers that litigation against companies that have refused to advertise on X would be eased, owing to lessened political weight. The dispute threatened a billion debt sale for Musk's xAI.
Government
Steve Bannon, a former advisor to Trump, said that he was urging Trump to cancel government contracts with his companies and to investigate Musk's immigration status, his alleged drug use, and his apparent efforts to attend a classified briefing on a possible war between China and Taiwan. After Bannon called for Trump to seize SpaceX with an executive order, Musk referred to him as a "communist retard". Democratic representatives Stephen Lynch and Robert Garcia sent a letter to attorney general Pam Bondi and Federal Bureau of Investigation director Kash Patel inquiring about Musk's allegation that Trump was present in government files on Epstein.
On X, Musk stated that SpaceX was decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft, necessary to the operations of the International Space Station. He backed down a few hours later.
Responses
Domestic
On social media, comparisons between the feud and that in Mean Girls (2004), as well as the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud, were made. The livestreamer Hasan Piker said that Musk should "pull up" to his podcast to infuriate Trump.
The dissolution of Musk and Trump's relationship was praised by some Make America Great Again followers. A YouGov survey indicated that most Republicans support Trump in the feud, while most Democrats were neutral.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer referenced "Bad Blood", a song by Taylor Swift believed to be about her feud with Katy Perry. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries referred to the feud as a "GOP civil war". The Democratic Party's X account called to "KILL THE BILL AND RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!" On War Room, Steve Bannon warned that Musk could be "flipped" by Democrats. Representative Ro Khanna argued that Democrats should court Musk.
International
Russian internet users compared the feud to the Wagner Group-Russian Ministry of Defence conflict, a dispute between Russia's Ministry of Defence and the oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin that led to the Wagner Group rebellion. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Security Council, joked that he was willing to broker a truce between Musk and Trump.
Following Bannon's allegations that Musk is unlawfully residing in the United States, the Russian government extended an offer of political asylum to him.
Trump's focus on Musk during his meeting with Friedrich Merz was met with relief from several German commentators, who noted caustic meetings with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.

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