Last week, Elon Musk played President Donald Trump and Buddy Buddy at a friendly oval office event that marked the end of White House service.
Well, just a few days later – the two divisions become increasingly bitter, each chasing the other person publicly.
This spat isn't just personal. It has a great sense for the country as the mask chose to be fiercely at the heart of Trump's legislative agenda: his “big, beautiful bill”
By Thursday afternoon, relationships had been totally worsening, so Trump threatened Musk's federal contract, and Musk threatened to launch a new party, accusing Trump of hiding the “Epstein Files” to hide his own involvement.
Time to drop a really big bomb:
@RealdonaldTrump is in the Epstein file. That's the real reason they're not public. Have a great day, DJT!
The bill is packed with tax cuts, cuts to Medicaid and other programs, and new spending on Trump priorities like borders, which will significantly increase debt and deficits.
Shortly before he left his White House job, Musk raised an eyebrow saying he was “disappointed” by the bill that he was housepassed. But now he's getting even hotter.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting hate,” Musk posted on X on Tuesday.
“Call the senators and call the senators, American bankruptcy is not alright!” he added the next day. “I'll kill the bill!”
On Thursday, Trump said he was “very disappointed with Elon” in his oval office. He added:
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk countered with an X.
Musk presented his opposition to Trump's bill (which began before he left the White House) and presented it publicly and in principle. However, many speculations surmise that Musk has other motives. For example, his business interests (this bill rolls back many credits for electric vehicles like Clean Energy and Tesla).
“'Eron 'wears thin,' I asked him to leave, I took his EV mandate. Trump posted Thursday on Truthsocial.
Bad blood didn't start because of the bill. The reason for the split is deeper — including doge, a pulled NASA candidate, and a $100 million promise that didn't show up.
Also, the bill may not be over. “The easiest way to save money on our budget, billions, billions of dollars is to end Elon's government subsidies and contracts,” Trump posted. “I was always surprised that Biden didn't do that!”
The decline and collapse of Trump Musk's bromance
In the first week, like the head of Trump's second term, the new president initially allowed masks to ramp out to the federal government. He ordered his layoffs, put workers on leave, and he canceled his contract due to a whirlwind of activities.
But as I wrote, an important turning point came in early March after several Cabinet Secretaries complained. Trump has suppressed Musk and declared that he should work with the Cabinet chief to use “mesulpel” rather than “hatchets.” (And perhaps it's not a chainsaw.)
For the wealthiest person in the world, it was basically a few weeks of opening games, so it was a serious step from being a super-strong COO of the federal government. The failure to wave Wisconsin's Supreme Court election was another blow, despite spending almost $25 million on it. And he began to lose more and more internal power struggles. For example, to Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent.
Musk reportedly asked if the White House could find a way to extend his services beyond the 120-day limit he had as a “special civil servant,” but was told no. And his final week at the White House Post was tense. He tried to abandon Trump's major AI investment deal out of anger that he had benefited his business rival Sam Altman during his trip to the Middle East last month.
Trump's team was also increasingly irritated by the mask. Musk had pledged $100 million to fund Trump's political campaign, but he didn't follow him.
Musk's initial comment that he was “disappointed” with the “big and beautiful bill” was followed by a friendly oval office with Trump. But soon after, the White House fought back. Soon after Musk left the government, on Saturday, Trump appealed to the NASA chief to nominate his close Musk ally and his friend Jared Isaacman.
This was very similar to retrieval of masks. Trump claimed he drew the nomination after learning that Isaacman had made a donation to the Democrats in the past. The reality is that these donations have been disclosed for a long time, with CNN reporting that “Trump's inner circle factions” have only made them come back again. (Space policy is extremely important to Musk, CEO of SpaceX.)
So, mask's attempt to promote a right-wing Tea Party-style rebellion against Trump's bill this week may be his own recall.
But can he do it? Given the slim majority of GOPs in both rooms, it takes some asylum to sink the bill. But in the showdown between Trump and Musk, there are few Congressional Republicans on their side. The tea party debate does not resonate as they used in their Trump era.
The risk for Musk is that, like the Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, his attempts to sway politics are supposed to make it clear that it is far less shaky than he thinks.
Updated June 5th, 2025, 3:45pm ET: The story was originally released before June 5th and updated to include new details of Trump and Musk's public statements.
