Elon Musk and President Donald Trump are officially over.
The petty swipes they took at each other on Friday morning showcased spectacularly what happens when two gargantuan egos with enormous amounts of power and money attempt to work together.
It also presents a strong case for having fewer billionaires and more women in charge.
In this case, the bromance couldn’t even make it a year. Musk’s money helped fund Trump’s presidential campaign and eventual election win, and Trump’s first months in office enabled the continuation and expansion of major government contracts with the companies Musk runs.
A key catalyst behind the breakup, is that Musk has issues with Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”. And Trump doesn’t know how to take criticism.
Trump has threatened to end federal contracts with Musk, noting that he is “very disappointed in Elon” due to the billionaire’s hot and fast attacks.
Trump shared the disappointment from the Oval Office, allowing Musk to respond to comments as they were occurring on the social media platform he owns, X. Musk described the president as “ungrateful” and declared that, “without me, Trump would have lost the election.”
Trump then took to his own social media platform, Truth Social, to issue threats to end US government contracts currently funnelling billions to Musk’s Starlink and SpaceX.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump declared.
That would be Trump threatening to withdraw government contracts because someone said something mean about his “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
The comments saw Musk returning to X to declare, “this just gets better and better” and to “go ahead, make my day.”
Musk then went further, claiming that Trump was “named in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”
Trump took to social media again to defend his Big Beautiful Bill as “one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress”. He claims not to mind Elon turning against him, but that he should have done so months ago. Trump then claimed, curiously and with no evidence, that if the Bill doesn’t pass there will be a “68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that.”
Less than a week ago, Musk and Trump shared a more amicable declaration of their breakup, together stating in the White House that Musk’s work on DOGE was over, with Trump thanking Musk for his time and efforts and presenting him with a “key” to the White House: via a small box with a comical-looking gold key that can’t actually unlock any doors.
Here are two personalities drunk on power and detached from reality.
It would be amusing to watch. But this relationship has caused devastation globally, with the fragile foundations holding the two together built on nothing but self-interest and ego.
Musk’s lead role in the DOGE saw his team of young, tech bros carelessly cutting contracts and indiscriminately firing entire departments of people.
Musk once claimed he would eliminate $2 trillion from the US federal budget’s total of $7 trillion through his efficiency work, before later reducing the figure to $1 trillion and then to $150 billion.
As Musk’s work on DOGE wound up last week, the DOGE website claimed it had achieved $165 billion in savings, but there is barely any detail on such cuts — at one point, $8 billion in savings listed was actually found to be a typo, as it was referencing an $8 millon contract that had been saved. Analysis by various news publications, including The Atlantic, can find very little of that alleged $165 billion in savings across the Treasury breakdowns of monthly spending by agency.
The cuts that have been successful are those that were going to targeted foreign assistance programs, including things like the “Global Health and Child Survival” programs, which help combat HIV, malaria, TB, and other diseases in developing countries. One-third of USAID spending was cut in the first quarter of 2025. Truly wasteful stuff.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, backed by Republicans, would deliver tax breaks to the rich via more cuts to vulnerable groups by ending certain hospital services and food stamps, only this time those affected would predominantly be in America.
Trump claims that Musk’s opposition to the bill is largely driven by its inclusion of cuts to EV tax credits, which would ultimately harm Musk’s Tesla.
In response and via X Musk said, “Whatever”.
“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. In the entire history of civilisation, there has never been legislation that [is] both big and beautiful.”
It’s all very unfair on Musk. And even more unfair on the president of the United States.
And it all happened in just a few short hours, as one of those involved was supposed to be leading a country and actually meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss the end of the Russia-Ukraine war. And as the other involves is still charged with leading multiple multinational companies, along with a self-appointed role of meddling in the elections of countries globally.