Barely a week after they bid adieu during a collegial meeting in the Oval Office, Pres. Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have launched what has rapidly escalated into an all-out war of words, amplified by their individual social media outlets. The feud has already left Tesla lurching, nervous shareholders fueling the automaker’s biggest one-day loss ever. But Musk appears positioned to do some damage of his own.
Musk and Trump during better days. The president attempted to help reverse a slump in Tesla sales with an event on the White House lawn.
It began as a disagreement over the “big beautiful bill” now working its way through Congress. It has now escalated into a social media war of words between two of America’s most powerful men – who seemed, until days ago, two powerful allies.
Following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s vocal criticism of the budget bill now working its way through Congress, Pres. Donald Trump quickly fired back. During a Friday morning call with ABC News, Trump declared his former lieutenant a “man who has lost his mind.”
Musk has made it clear he’s ready to further escalate the feud, but with Trump threatening to take aim at the entrepreneur’s businesses, Tesla investors appeared to panic. The Texas-based automaker suffered its single-biggest one-day loss ever on Thursday, wiping out much of the gains the shares had made in May following Musk’s announcement he would leave Washington and return to his role as CEO.
From bonhomie to bitter words
Musk became one of Donald Trump’s biggest backers when he pumped more than $270 million into the reelection campaign last year. Following the returning president’s inauguration, the South African-born executive became head of the Department of Government Efficiency, positioning him as one of Trump’s most powerful lieutenants, leading the push to hack away at the federal government.
But that role also made Musk a central target for Trump’s opponents, leading to massive rallies at Tesla stores and a global boycott of its products. Musk decided to end his work with DOGE, last month promising to return to Tesla as CEO for at least five years. The news sent Tesla stock soaring after losing nearly two-thirds of its value during a nine-week retreat.
The two men initially appeared to part ways on good terms, Trump praising Musk for delivering “colossal change” during his time in Washington. But the bonhomie would last barely a week. It all began to fall apart as Musk on Wednesday labeled the president’s favored budget bill “outrageous,” “pork-filled,” and “a disgusting abomination.”
Trump fires back
Seldom one to tolerate public criticism, Trump quickly fired back – as did other close allies, including House Speaker Mike Johnson who has been pressing for a quick passage of the budget bill.
By Thursday, turned the dispute personal. “I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”
Trump then suggested Musk might be upset with the proposed spending bill because it eliminates federal subsidies of up to $7,500 for EV buyers.
Within hours, the two men were using their own social media outlets – Trump’s Truth Social and Musk’s X – to escalate the fight. “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk wrote. “Such ingratitude.”
Musk “went crazy” after he was “asked…to leave” DOGE, Trump responded in a post that evoked the points raised in a story by the New York Times alleging the Tesla CEO was a heavy drug user.
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Tesla, SpaceX at risk
Both men clearly helped other before this new spat. Political experts agree that Musk’s money helped ensure Trump’s victory. And the election results initially appeared to buoy Musk – and Tesla which saw its stock price surge to $488.54 a share by mid-December, giving it a market valuation of more than $1.5 trillion. Only a handful of tech companies, such as Apple, NVIDIA and Microsoft, are in that rarified atmosphere.
But Tesla stock started tumbling in January and continued plunging for the next three months as the backlash to Musk’s role in Washington grew. Wall Street gave a collective sigh of relief when Musk announced he would return to Tesla, May delivering one of the stock’s biggest surges ever. It wasn’t to last. Investors ran for the exits on Thursday, Tesla losing roughly $250 billion in market value before bottoming out. The stock began showing some upward momentum on Friday morning, but still lags well behind last month’s high.
It didn’t help that Trump took aim at the mega-billionaire’s pocketbook. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
What does Elon know?
Both men appear to be in position to cause serious damage to one another. Political observers warn the feud could add to criticism of Trump as being thin-skinned and unable to act “presidential.”
But Musk has now raised the prospect he could reveal even more damaging information. He said in a post on X that the president “is in the Epstein files,” a reference to the FBI and Department of Justice dossier on Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier arrested for child sex abuse.
The records were closed after Epstein committed suicide while being held in a New York jail. A number of high-profile business and political leaders were believed to be linked to Epstein’s flagrant behavior and there has been widespread speculation about why Trump reversed course after initially promising to release the information. “That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk wrote.
Trump and Musk in better days.
Now what?
There have been reports that allies of Musk and Trump are reaching out for ways to quickly end their feud.
That appeared to briefly quell investor concerns, Tesla stock began showing some upward momentum on Friday morning, but then turned downward again when Trump told ABC News he is “not particularly” interested in reconnecting with Musk.
Whether he’ll rethink that reluctance is uncertain but there’s no question the two men could do serious damage to one another. Trump has the presidential “bully pulpit,” as well as Truth Social, and could hit Musk in the wallet by targeting his various companies. But Musk, the world’s richest man, has shown he’s ready to spend his money on whatever he chooses and he could amplify any criticism with the help of X.
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