Trump threatened to pull back billions of dollars in government contracts for Musk. Musk suggested the president would not have won the election without him. Wall Street traders dumped Tesla shares, plunging them over 14%. U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025. Nathan Howard | Reuters
Donald Trump and Elon Musk seemed inseparable not so long ago: attending events together, doing joint interviews and showering praises on each other. All that changed overnight.
Trump and Musk traded barbs in a rather public feud, with the U.S. president threatening to pull back billions of dollars in government contracts for Musk’s companies, while the Tesla CEO suggested Trump could not have won the election without him.
The hostilities began when Trump lashed out at Musk’s criticism of the Republican tax-cut and spending bill, and quickly escalated into an all-out online brawl on Trump’s Truth Social and Musk’s X, with prominent businessmen, analysts and political names weighing in on the