Elon Musk and Donald Trump , the once high-profile "love" political and business duo, are now experiencing a dramatic breakup.
On June 4, local time, Musk made a rare public attack on his social platform X (formerly Twitter), scolding a core bill pushed by the Trump administration as a "disgusting deformed product." The world's richest man wrote: "I'm sorry, I just can't stand it. This huge, outrageous, and full of private goods congressional bill is simply a disgusting deformity!" He even called on lawmakers to "kill the bill."
The next day, on June 5, Musk sent out several tweets to publicly attack Trump and revealed shocking news: "Trump is in Epstein's file."
You know, less than a year ago, Musk was still standing on the stage of Trump's campaign rally wearing a striking black "MAGA" hat, jokingly calling himself a "dark MAGA"; and Trump once regarded the tech billionaire as an ally and "one of his own" on the road to regaining the White House. In just a few months, the two went from a close handshake to an open confrontation. The ups and downs of their relationship make people sigh that the "friendship boat" can capsize at any time.
As the most eye-catching stars in their respective fields, the relationship between Trump and Musk has always been full of drama. From politics to business, they sometimes sympathize with each other and sometimes confront each other.
On the eve of the current US presidential election (2024), Musk began to express his support for Trump, and the interaction between the two has become the focus of public attention. On one side is the former president who vowed to make a comeback, and on the other side is the world's richest man who spans electric vehicles, aerospace and social media. The two people known for their boldness and extraordinary behavior quickly approached each other, but gradually drifted apart in the struggle for power and interests.
As the foreign media Axios said, these two strongmen "both have an arrogant side in their personalities and believe that they are not bound by conventional rules." Their alliance once boosted the Republican election, but senior observers doubted from the beginning how long this political "honeymoon" could last, and today's development seems to confirm these doubts.
Key timeline at a glance
September 28, 2023: Musk appeared at the US-Mexico border and live-streamed the current immigration situation in Eagle Pass, Texas, calling on the United States to "substantially expand legal immigration and speed up approval on the one hand, and strictly block illegal entry on the other hand." Musk expressed his recognition of Trump's immigration proposition with practical actions, and also criticized the Biden administration's ineffective border policy.
May 24, 2024: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his candidacy for president in a Twitter Spaces livestream hosted by Musk, but the event was interrupted due to a technical failure. Musk had previously been inclined to support DeSantis' challenge to Trump, but DeSantis' campaign momentum subsequently declined.
July 13, 2024: Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was met with a suspected assassination attempt (gunfire caused chaos). A few minutes later, Musk publicly posted on X for the first time to support Trump's re-election. This move marked Musk's official move to Trump's camp.
August 12, 2024: Musk hosted a live broadcast of a conversation with Trump on the X platform, which was described by the media as "an extended campaign speech". During the live broadcast, Musk suggested that if Trump wins the election, a "Government Efficiency Commission" should be established and he should be the leader to reduce bureaucratic waste. Trump laughed and said it was a "good idea". A week later, Musk posted a statement: "I am willing to serve".
October 5, 2024 (or late October): Musk makes his first appearance at a Trump campaign rally. He appears in a black MAGA hat and tells cheering supporters, "As you can see, I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark MAGA." Musk's high-profile embrace of the far-right subculture of the Trump camp has sparked an uproar in public opinion.
October 19, 2024: Musk announced that through his "American PAC", voters in swing states will be given a "$1 million daily bonus" on the condition that they sign a petition in support of free speech and gun rights. This innovative move is seen as an unconventional way for Musk to use his wealth to influence voters and help Trump.
November 6, 2024: US election day. Trump was predicted by the media to win the election that night and become the "President-elect". Musk was invited to Mar-a-Lago to witness the victory moment with Trump.
November 12, 2024: Trump announces the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Musk and Republican political star Vivek Ramaswamy, as an independent advisory body to cut government spending and streamline the bureaucracy. Musk thus gains an unprecedented informal position of power in the new administration.
February 20, 2025: Musk made a high-profile appearance at the conservative annual event CPAC as Trump's adviser and head of DOGE. He took the stage holding a red chainsaw, calling it a "chainsaw for cutting bureaucrats," and vowed to slash government spending, which drew enthusiastic cheers from the audience. This move symbolized that he and Trump have reached the climax of the so-called "government slimming" agenda.
April 6, 2025: It is reported that Musk has repeatedly persuaded Trump to abandon the new round of trade tariff war against allied countries in private, but it did not work. The news that Trump insisted on raising tariffs caused financial market turmoil, the Dow Jones plummeted, and the global market value evaporated trillions of dollars. The sharp drop in US stocks also damaged Musk's personal wealth. Observers pointed out that there was a rift between Trump and Musk, and the interests of both sides were not always consistent.
May 30, 2025: Musk and Trump attend a farewell press conference at the White House. The "Trump-Musk honeymoon" seems to have ended successfully: Trump publicly praised Musk for his "revolutionary contributions to the country," calling him a "patriot" and "my friend"; Musk thanked the president and said he was "retiring with honor." However, on the same day he left office, Musk secretly expressed reservations about a key bill of Trump.
June 3, 2025: Musk, who had just left his government post for a few days, publicly blasted Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" (a large tax cut and spending bill) on X. "Shame on those who voted in favor: you know in your heart that you did the wrong thing!" Musk angrily scolded in the post. He accused the bill of being filled with unnecessary expenses, which would cause the fiscal deficit to soar, and asked Congress to shoot the bill. Musk's former support for Trump has evolved into a head-on confrontation at this moment.
June 5, 2025: When asked by reporters about Musk's statement in the Oval Office, Trump rarely showed displeasure and said frankly that he was "very disappointed" with Musk. "Look, Elon and I used to have a good relationship," Trump said, "but now I'm not sure if it can be good... He used to praise me, but he didn't attack me directly - I guess the next step is to attack me. But I'm really disappointed, I helped him a lot." Trump hinted that Musk opposed the bill because it planned to cancel electric vehicle subsidies and harm Tesla's interests. He also ridiculed Musk for "missing him after leaving my team" and said that many resigned officials would "love and hate" - the relationship between Trump and Musk has reached a freezing point.
From alienation to alliance: Musk's turn to the right
Musk's interaction with Trump was not smooth sailing before the second half of 2023. As early as Trump's first campaign and administration, Musk had a complicated attitude towards the real estate tycoon and president: he was briefly invited to serve as Trump's economic adviser in 2017, but resigned in anger because he was dissatisfied with Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. Since then, the two have publicly sung different tunes on some issues. Even in July 2022, Trump mocked Musk as a "bull artist"* at a rally - at that time Musk expressed his inclination to support Florida Governor DeSantis and believed that Trump should "retire after success", which aroused Trump's dissatisfaction.
However, Musk's political trajectory has changed significantly since 2023. This year, Musk gradually shifted from the liberal camp to the conservative position. His criticism of the Democratic government has become increasingly sharp, and he frequently attacks President Biden and his policies on social media and in public. For example, Musk mocked Biden's "real president is a teleprompter" and said, "If someone accidentally knocks over the teleprompter, the scene will be as ridiculous as the movie "Anchorman". This metaphor not only mocks Biden's public mistakes, but also implies that he is just a puppet controlled by his staff in Musk's eyes. Musk also accused the Biden administration of letting inflation run wild and warned that "the United States is on a Venezuelan path." He bluntly stated that he had "overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party" and was increasingly disappointed with the Democratic Party, believing that its policies were hijacked by "radical left-wing ideas."
Musk's most direct dissatisfaction with the Biden administration is reflected in immigration, speech and industrial policies. In September 2023, Musk personally went to the US-Mexico border to inspect the immigration wave. He appeared in Yingtan, a small border town in Texas, wearing a cowboy hat and live-streamed the scene of groups of immigrants wading across the river. Musk regards himself as a descendant of immigrants and claims that he is "extremely pro-immigration", but he advocates that the United States "should significantly increase the number of legal immigrants and speed up approval to make it easier for hardworking and honest people to come to the United States; and to prevent those who enter the country illegally."
This "two-pronged" approach coincides with Trump's immigration policy direction: Trump has always cracked down on illegal immigration, while claiming to welcome "merit-based" legal immigration. Musk took this opportunity to criticize the Biden administration's poor border control, saying that the current influx of illegal immigrants is overwhelming border communities. He introduced Texas Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez in the live broadcast, who complained that border residents "feel abandoned." Musk's tough voice on immigration issues won applause from Republicans, indicating that his position is getting closer to that of the Trump camp.
At the same time, as the new owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk regards himself as a "free speech" fighter and criticizes the previous management team for banning Trump's account. Shortly after acquiring Twitter in October 2022, Musk unblocked Trump's account, which was banned for inciting the riots in Congress, and publicly invited Trump to return. Although Trump had not yet left his "Truth Social" platform at that time, Musk's move won praise among conservatives and was seen as a powerful counterattack against "big technology companies censoring conservative voices." Musk also led the exposure of the so-called "Twitter documents", revealing the Biden administration's behind-the-scenes request for the platform to suppress sensitive content, which confirmed the Trump camp's accusation of "deep government" censorship. These actions have made Musk a voice of the American right.
On the standard-bearer on the issue of freedom.
As the New York Times reported, since Musk publicly chose sides, users on the X platform have been "more likely to be pushed content from Musk himself and other right-wing accounts." Musk has not only shaped his own conservative image, but has also invisibly helped Trump build momentum.
However, Musk did not officially embrace Trump until mid-2023. At that time, DeSantis, the main opponent of Trump in the Republican Party, was attracting much attention, and Musk once favored this younger politician. In May 2023, DeSantis chose to announce his candidacy in a Twitter Spaces audio live broadcast hosted by Musk. However, after the live broadcast began, technical failures occurred frequently, the sound was intermittent and chaotic, making DeSantis's high-profile debut a laughing stock. Although Musk ended in embarrassment, his gesture of joining forces with DeSantis to "fight" Trump has aroused the latter's vigilance. Trump privately ridiculed Musk for "saying that he had never voted for the Republican Party, and then telling me that he voted for me, what a liar." In the party primary competition in the summer of 2023, DeSantis' momentum declined.
Musk gradually realized that the hearts of the Republican grassroots are still closely following Trump. As smart as he is, he began to re-examine his political bets in the 2024 election.
Joining hands to return to the arena: from "supporting Trump" to dark MAGA
As 2024 entered the second half of the year, the campaign for the US presidential election became increasingly heated. Despite being embroiled in lawsuits, Trump was still far ahead of his peers in the Republican Party. Musk made an unexpected but reasonable decision at this time: to fully support Trump's comeback. The trigger was an emergency - on July 13, 2024, Trump encountered a security emergency at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and was hastily escorted off the stage by the Secret Service. According to reports, suspected gunshots occurred at the scene, which caused no casualties but caused panic. This incident excited Trump's supporters and also touched Musk.
On the same day, Musk posted on the X platform, officially supporting Trump's presidential campaign. From this moment on, this maverick entrepreneur and this rebellious politician began to fight side by side.
Musk embraced the Trump camp in a multi-pronged way. First of all, he generously donated money to support Trump's comeback campaign. According to data from the US Federal Election Commission, Musk donated up to $238.5 million to groups supporting Trump through the "American PAC" super political action committee he founded. This astronomical figure made him the largest donor to the Republican camp in the 2024 election cycle.
Musk's donations included a creative move: he launched an online petition calling on voters to sign in support of the First Amendment (free speech) and the Second Amendment (gun rights) to the Constitution, and promised to give away $1 million in a daily lottery to signatories in swing states. This unprecedented "money-throwing campaign" has attracted huge attention. Some critics questioned whether this is equivalent to buying votes with money, but for conservative voters who feel deeply about the restrictions on speech and gun ownership, this recharge lottery is more like a carnival. As the comment said, Musk used his wealth and influence to "break the norms of American politics" to canvass for Trump.
Musk also played a unique role in the campaign. In August 2024, he invited Trump to be a guest on the X platform for an online live dialogue.
This is the first time Trump has returned to a mainstream social platform to speak publicly after being "banned" by major social media. As we all know, Trump could only release news through his own Truth Social before, and Musk's invitation has enabled him to reach hundreds of millions of audiences again. The live broadcast of the two was described by the outside world as "an extended campaign rally speech": Trump talked nonstop during the live broadcast, promoting his own policy proposals, and was rarely interrupted by Musk.
Musk is happy to play a supporting role, allowing Trump to perform to his heart's content, while taking the opportunity to discuss issues that concern him. For example, Musk proposed in a live broadcast that if Trump wins the election, a committee focusing on "government efficiency" should be set up, and he jokingly said that he might as well let him take charge. Trump smiled and said it was a "good idea", and joked that "maybe it should be called the Department of Government Efciency, or DOGE for short" (the same name as Musk's favorite Dogecoin).
A few days later, Musk solemnly stated on X: "I'm willing to serve." This seemed like a pledge of allegiance to Trump, and it also seemed to imply that he had tied his personal reputation to Trump's political destiny.
At the end of the campaign in October, Musk personally stepped forward to cheer for Trump. He appeared in many large-scale rallies of Trump that month, attracting great attention from the media. One of his classic appearances took place at Madison Square Garden in New York: Musk wore a black "MAGA" baseball cap and a T-shirt with the words "Occupy Mars" printed on it and walked onto the stage, introducing himself: "As you can see, I am not only MAGA, I am also a dark, gothic MAGA." Trump's die-hard supporters in the audience burst into applause and cheers.
This slightly bizarre "Dark MAGA" declaration quickly became a buzzword on social media. The so-called "Dark MAGA" was originally a marginal meme on the Internet, with extreme right-wing and apocalyptic colors, emphasizing the use of more radical and tough means to "make America great again." Musk's public embrace of this label surprised and even disturbed many moderate conservatives, but also made Trump's most fanatical base excited. Some analysts pointed out that Musk's move was equivalent to showing goodwill to the most extreme supporters of Trump's camp, portraying himself as a "comrade" who fought side by side with them.
Musk's high-profile "support" also includes personally attending campaign rallies to endorse Trump.
On October 5, 2024, he appeared at a Trump rally in Iowa wearing Trump's signature red "Make America Great Again" hat, which attracted media attention. Musk said on stage: "As you can see, I'm not just MAGA - I'm 'Dark MAGA'." This remark became a topic of public opinion for a while, and some people joked that the combination of the two was like an absurd reality show - "the president and his technology madman partner." The Washington Post commented that Musk has become Trump's "first buddy" in the campaign, accompanying him in public and attracting attention.
Political honeymoon: Advisers advance and flatter each other
After Trump won the 2024 election, his relationship with Musk reached its peak, and the media dubbed it the "billionaire co-governance" of politics. Trump not only frequently praised Musk in public, but also "tailored" an informal official position for him for the first time. A week after the election, Trump announced the appointment of Musk to lead the newly established "Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)" to "cut spending and cut bloat" together with senior officials of the incoming government. This position so close to the center of presidential power is unprecedented for a businessman who has not been authorized by the election.
Axios bluntly stated that this makes Musk "the most powerful unelected person in American history."
On January 20, 2025, Trump was sworn in as president in Washington, starting his second term. According to U.S. media reports, Musk was also invited to attend the inauguration ceremony that day, sitting in the guest area of the viewing booth with two other technology giants, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. It is intriguing that these Silicon Valley celebrities, who were once regarded as political enemies by Trump, now gathered together to watch the ceremony. For Musk, this is his first time to publicly appear in a state event as a "confidant" of the president.
Shortly after the inauguration ceremony, Musk took office quickly and moved into the White House as a special adviser and specially appointed government employee to begin presiding over the work of DOGE.
In the early days of Trump's administration, Musk became a celebrity in Washington. He and Trump used each other and praised each other, creating a short and high-profile "honeymoon period". Trump never forgot to bring up Musk and praise him on almost every occasion, praising him for being "extremely smart" and "energetic" and being able to use business thinking to innovate the government. At a cabinet meeting in the White House, Trump thanked Musk in front of all officials for "making contributions to the country with humiliation" and called him "a patriot and my friend". Musk, who was sitting nearby at the time, wore a striking red MAGA hat and nodded shyly.
Some participants recalled that several ministers who had some grudges against Musk also raised their glasses under Trump's lead, boasting that the streamlining action he led was "fruitful." This kind of collective praise for Musk is rare in Washington and became a funny story for a while.
Musk's actual actions in the Trump administration also attracted attention. He launched a series of "drastic" actions in a swift and decisive manner: requiring government agencies to submit budget cuts, freezing some civil servant recruitment, suspending funding for several federal projects, and so on.
It is revealed that Musk once boasted to Trump that DOGE could save the federal government at least $2 trillion. However, ideals are full of hope, but reality is very skinny. Although Musk "cut" multiple departments without fear of offending people, in the end, as of May 2025, only less than 0.5% of federal annual spending was cut, which is equivalent to tens of billions of dollars, far from the $2 trillion target.
Despite this, Trump still supported Musk's efforts and held a farewell press conference for him at the end of May. At the press conference in the Oval Office, Trump and Musk had a good chat and thanked each other in front of the camera, turning a breakup that could have been a resignation storm into a brotherhood of "mutual appreciation and pleasant cooperation."
However, some signs show that Musk's situation in Washington is not as good as it seems. Politico revealed that the White House has a love-hate relationship with Musk. On the one hand, Trump and some of his confidants highly praised the innovative ideas he brought; on the other hand, many officials privately complained that Musk "acted on his own and did not follow the rules", often directly expressed policy opinions without going through the staff system, and published unreviewed government cuts on X, catching cabinet members and the chief of staff team off guard. What is even more worrying for some Trump allies is that Musk is increasingly becoming a new tool for the Democrats to attack the Trump administration - the Democrats have portrayed him as a "straw man" of the Trump administration and whipped him up, taking the opportunity to mobilize their own voters.
For example, in an important Supreme Court by-election in Wisconsin in the spring of 2025, the Democratic camp criticized Musk for spending huge sums of money to influence the election, calling the election a referendum on the "extreme billionaire." As a result, the conservative candidate supported by the Republican Party lost by 10 percentage points, and some members of the Trump team attributed it to the backlash caused by Musk. All signs show that Musk's "double-edged sword" brings opportunities while also burying hidden worries.
Despite the noise, Musk and Trump still appear to be close in public. Not only do the two meet frequently in the White House to discuss the agenda, Trump also deliberately arranges some highlights to highlight their "alliance". On November 19, 2024, Trump personally flew to Texas and accompanied Musk to watch the launch of the SpaceX starship. The picture of the president and the richest man looking up at the rocket launch side by side quickly made the front pages of major media. This scene was interpreted as the two jointly declaring the vision of "technology makes America great again", and it also implied that Trump returned the favor to Musk-supporting his business career.
At the CPAC conference in February 2025, Musk was invited to give a speech as a special guest. He held up the red chainsaw and said to the audience with a smile: "This is the weapon we use to cut down bureaucracy!" Interestingly, he was also on stage with Javier Milei, the newly elected populist president of Argentina, who simply gave Musk the chainsaw as a gift. Conservative activists in the audience waved flags with the image of Dogecoin and the words "Musk 2024" and cheered the names of the two. The Associated Press commented that this scene shows that Musk has become a symbol of Trump's conservative movement, "the world's richest man who once supported Obama and Biden is now at the center of the American right-wing political stage."
Undercurrents and gaps: from trade war to AI regulation
However, no matter how hot the honeymoon is, it cannot cover up the differences that are gradually emerging. In the spring of 2025, a series of policy contradictions began to test the alliance between Trump and Musk.
The first to be affected is the trade and tariff policy towards China. As we all know, Trump's tough stance on trade with China is his signature agenda, while Musk's Tesla is deeply involved in the Chinese market, and the two have different interests. In early April, Trump suddenly announced that he would significantly increase tariffs on many countries, including allies, on the grounds of protecting American jobs and reducing trade deficits. After the news came out, the global market was in an uproar: major stock indexes plummeted, and investor panic spread.
Because Tesla relies on the global supply chain and the Chinese market, Musk's personal wealth was also hit hard when Trump's tariff "stick" was swung down - it was reported that during the stock market crash, Musk's wealth once fell below the $300 billion mark.
Musk did not sit still. Reports revealed that he contacted Trump directly several times that weekend after the tariff policy was announced, pleading with the president to pull back from the brink and withdraw the decision to impose comprehensive tariffs. Musk stressed that the trade war has caused "turbulence and chaos" in the international market, and further escalation will threaten the US economy and damage the interests of Trump's financial backers. But Trump turned a deaf ear to him and not only had no intention of stopping, but also threatened to "add another 50% tariff" the following Monday.
Musk's lobbying hit a wall. The British newspaper The Guardian commented that Musk's failed lobbying for tariffs was seen as "evidence of the growing rift between the two." The tariff storm shows that Trump and Musk have irreconcilable differences in their ideas on issues involving nationalist economic lines: the former is determined to promote trade protectionism, while the latter defends globalization and corporate interests.
Another potential point of conflict is artificial intelligence (AI) policy. Musk has long been cautious and even wary of AI, repeatedly warning of its "potential existential threat" and calling for regulation to ensure AI safety. The Trump administration, on the other hand, tends to relax regulations and encourage competition on AI issues. During Trump's 2024 campaign, he promised to completely overturn Biden's AI regulatory framework, accusing the Democratic government's AI executive order of "shackle innovation and force extreme left ideas into it."
Trump said he would ensure that AI development is "rooted in free speech and human well-being," implying that companies should focus on self-discipline and reduce government intervention. In sharp contrast, Musk not only publicly supports stricter AI safety legislation, but also rarely supports a California bill that intends to review AI algorithms (although the bill was ultimately rejected). He is worried that unconstrained development of AI may bring about ethical and safety disasters. It can be imagined that in the cutting-edge field of AI regulation, the differences between the two are only hidden. Once Trump really pushes to abolish AI safety safeguards, whether Musk will stand up and oppose it will become a potential friction point between the two sides.
In addition, Musk and Trump also have a clash of views on the issue of fiscal deficit and spending. Musk is an entrepreneur who advocates simplicity and efficiency, and is naturally wary of government deficits and debts; Trump is more focused on large-scale tax cuts and high spending to stimulate the economy, and is not afraid of federal debt.
At the beginning of 2025, the Trump administration launched an ambitious "Big, Beautiful Bill", which included extending the 2017 tax cuts, increasing military spending and border security funding, and significantly increasing fiscal spending. An independent congressional agency estimated that this plan would add $2.4 trillion in debt over the next 10 years.
Musk was deeply concerned about this. He reminded Trump in private that doing so would be tantamount to wasting the revenue he had worked so hard to cut at DOGE. In May, Musk was ready to resign from DOGE as planned, but he still did not forget to sound the alarm on the budget issue. He gradually made this anxiety public: he frequently forwarded deficit warning information on X and bluntly said that "the United States is heading full speed towards debt slavery." Musk even hinted that if the government continues to increase its debt, the United States will sooner or later suffer the consequences of losing control of its finances.
The White House and Republican leaders initially tried to downplay these emerging differences. In response to media inquiries, Presidential Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Musk's dissatisfaction with the budget was just "a small disagreement in the overall harmonious relationship" and did not change the president's determination to push the bill through. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that no matter what Musk said, Congress would implement the president's legislative agenda. However, it is undeniable that some of Trump's close associates have begun to regard Musk as an "uncontrollable variable" or even a "political burden."
Politico revealed that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and others were "extremely annoyed" by Musk's unauthorized criticism of the tax reform bill, and the presidential team had to call several senators overnight to appease them and reiterate Trump's support for the bill. A source revealed that in mid-May, Trump mentioned in an internal meeting that Musk would "retire after his success" and let him return to the business world after his 130-day special employee term.
In fact, just as DOGE was in its final sprint, Tesla's first-quarter profit plummeted 71%. Wall Street analysts called on Musk to stop over-investing in politics and go back to save Tesla's declining stock price.
Musk himself admitted that the company needed him to put in more effort. Obviously, the conflict between the dual identities of "businessman and public servant" is making Musk feel torn, and the Trump camp is quietly making plans for the "post-Musk era".
The good times didn’t last long: the aftermath of the public breakup and the love-hate relationship
At the end of May 2025, Musk resigned from his post as special adviser to the "Government Efficiency Department" as originally planned. He expressed his gratitude to Trump and his colleagues on social media, saying that "the mission is basically completed and I can go back to focus on my career."
White House officials stressed that Musk had only "completed a phased mission" and that the president was still grateful to him and hoped to continue to receive his support in the future. On May 30, when Trump and Musk staged that polite "farewell show" at the White House, the outside world might believe that the two would continue to maintain a friendly and cooperative relationship. After all, at the press conference, Trump praised Musk as "amazing", and Musk also
They nodded again and again, showing a harmonious relationship between the emperor and his subjects.
However, just a few days later, this "honeymoon" relationship took a sharp turn for the worse. The conflict was triggered by the "big, beautiful bill" dispute mentioned above. Musk had doubts about Trump's fiscal plan, and when he was no longer in government, he chose to publicly criticize it without hesitation.
In early June, he sent out a series of harshly worded posts, calling on Congress to sniper the bill. Musk denounced the bill as full of "pork" (metaphor has nothing to do with personal goods) and would cause the federal deficit to get out of control. He also mocked
The lawmakers who supported the bill "knowingly committed a crime". This kind of public attack on the president's legislative agenda would have been unthinkable during the period of cooperation between the two sides. And Musk also deliberately drew a line in the sand: he did not attack Trump directly, but only the policy itself. In his subsequent speech, he clarified that he did not oppose the cancellation of electric vehicle subsidies, "as long as the disgusting 'mountain of wasteful spending' can be removed from the bill." He emphasized that he opposed the excessive spending part of the bill, not the clauses that hurt Tesla's interests.
Trump initially responded through his assistant that he had long known Musk's views on the bill, but that this "would not change the president's position in the slightest." However, Musk's high-profile "rebellion" undoubtedly angered Trump.
In a media interview on June 5, Trump criticized Musk by name, showing the ruthless side of the former president when he turned against his former ally. "Elon has praised me in every way... He hasn't attacked me personally yet, but I'm sure he will soon," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "To be honest, I'm very disappointed in Elon. I helped him a lot."
This sentence reveals Trump's typical "transactional" thinking: in his view, Musk has received his favors (financial status, political reputation), so he should return absolute loyalty, and the current criticism is ungrateful.
Trump further implied that Musk opposed the bill because it would cancel the electric vehicle tax credit and he was protecting Tesla's interests. He also ridiculed Musk for "getting restless after leaving and wanting to come back to work" and "many people regret leaving my government, some will come back to work, and some will turn against each other and become enemies." This series of statements is equivalent to announcing that the honeymoon between Trump and Musk has officially ended and the relationship between the two sides has reached a freezing point.
As soon as Trump's tough words fell, Musk immediately responded on X, echoing Trump's preference for the bill with a hint of sarcasm: "Let the austerity version of the Big, Beautiful Bill win." On the one hand, he emphasized his support for the streamlined tax reform plan, and on the other hand, he insisted on cutting wasteful spending. This tit-for-tat exchange of moves made the media use words such as "firefight" and "tearing apart." For a time, the "Trump-Musk split" became a hot topic in the political arena. Some commentators joked that the relationship between the two verified a popular online saying: "The boat of friendship can capsize at any time."
What is more noteworthy is that the public feud between Trump and Musk is not an isolated incident, but reflects a larger conflict within the Republican Party over fiscal policy. Musk's side of the "deficit reduction" actually gathered several hard-line conservatives in Congress, who also strongly opposed Trump's super-large tax cuts and spending increases. These Republican senators call themselves "deficit hawks" and demand major cuts in the government budget, splitting from the Trump camp.
Trump tried to maintain unity within the party, privately persuading opponents to "give Musk a favor" and temporarily ignore his calls to push the bill to a vote. Some White House aides downplayed Musk's complaints as "a one-time disagreement," claiming that the president and Musk "still have a harmonious relationship overall." But many Republicans in the Senate are quite disdainful of Musk's views. As an unnamed senior senator said: "I don't think many senators really care what Elon thinks... It's okay to just listen. We are people who are serious about policy and are responsible for governing the country, but we don't have time to pay attention to his meddling." These words fully show the Washington establishment's disapproval of "outsiders" like Musk.
As the turmoil escalated, the Trump administration’s press team was once put on the defensive.
Politico reported that people around Trump have been generally relieved recently, believing that Musk's timely exit from the core circle is a good thing for the president. After all, with the 2026 mid-term congressional elections approaching, Trump needs the unity of the entire party to retain seats in both houses and cannot tolerate any more constraints. And Musk, an unruly "non-staff person", may eventually become a drag or even an enemy.
Even Trump himself, after publicly expressing his "disappointment" with Musk, made a meaningful sigh: "We used to have a good relationship, but now it's hard to say." In the political circle, this sentence is tantamount to formally drawing a line in the sand.
Aftermath and Outlook: Can the overturned boat be stabilized?
At present, the conflict between Trump and Musk over policies and loyalty is still brewing. A large number of conservative media and opinion leaders who support Trump have begun to criticize Musk, accusing him of being "ungrateful" and "standing against the people." Musk's fans defended their idol, saying that he sticks to his principles and does not act as a yes-man for the president. For a time, fans of both sides clashed fiercely on social media, making people seem to have returned to the drama when Trump broke up with his former lawyer Cohen or turned against former Secretary of Defense Mattis. It's just that this time the two ends of the rift are the president on one side and the world's richest man who holds huge influence on public opinion on the other, and the impact is more complicated.
In the public opinion field, many media have published in-depth analysis to explore the deep reasons for the breakdown of the relationship between the two. Axios warned as early as after the 2024 election that the "power duo" of Trump and Musk would eventually break up because neither of them could tolerate being the second in command. The two are equally ambitious and unruly. Short-term cooperation is a win-win for both sides, but long-term cooperation will inevitably lead to a situation where there is no room for two tigers in one mountain.
The Guardian pointed out a more direct interest consideration: the trade war and the fiscal dispute prove that Musk will eventually have to maintain his global business territory and personal wealth, while Trump must cater to populism and voters' promises. When the two conflict, "friendship" will give way to their respective calculations. There are also comments that write in a joking tone that perhaps "Musk's loyalty to Trump is only valid for 130 days" - exactly the period of his service as a special government employee. Once the period has passed, he will regain his free status, no longer constrained by the team, and can express different opinions at will.
It is interesting to note that Trump himself left a little room for maneuver in this falling out. After fiercely criticizing Musk, he changed his tone and said, "I really want to keep him longer... He's doing a great job." A White House spokesman later added, "The president really wants to keep Elon, but Elon has his own company to manage." On the one hand, this denies the severity of the split, and on the other hand, it seems to reveal regret and reluctance. From the past, it is not that Trump has no precedent for reconciling with former allies. For example, with former campaign strategist Bannon and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, they fell out and then stood together again when politics needed it.
Therefore, some analysts believe that it is possible that Trump and Musk will shake hands and make peace again at some point in the future. After all, the two have common political enemies (such as the establishment Democrats) and similar foreign policy (such as distrust of the media and elites). A person familiar with the two told the New York Times: "This is more like a gorgeous dance battle than a real duel."
However, no matter what the future holds, the short life cycle of the "Tema Alliance" has left a thought-provoking episode in history. It shows the moment when American politics and business power are strangely intertwined: a former president is willing to give a business leader unprecedented influence, and the latter once devoted all his resources to help the president make a comeback. Behind this "love", there are common interests driving it; and when the interests no longer match, "killing each other" is inevitable.
Trump is known for his moodiness, his love for the new and his dislike for the old, and his demand for others' loyalty is above all else; Musk, on the other hand, is used to being "independent and doing his own thing," and he does not change his style even when facing the president. This determined that the alliance between the two had cracks from the day it was born.
Today, the "friendship boat" carrying two influential figures of the times has capsized in the waves. Perhaps one day in the future, Musk and Trump will choose to take what they need and shake hands again to ride together - just as it is often played out in American politics, there are no eternal friends or eternal enemies. But what is certain is that after this love-hate relationship, the American public, media and even the political arena have a clearer understanding of the true relationship between the two.
As one commentator pointed out sharply: "Trump's so-called loyalty is nothing more than asking others to be infinitely loyal to him; and Musk's friendship must ultimately be subject to calculations of interests." Such an ironic annotation is probably the best warning that this political legend gives to the world.
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