The relationship between President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk collapsed in spectacular fashion on Thursday.
As Trump met with the Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz at the White House Thursday afternoon, Musk posted a battery of tweets to his social media platform X criticizing Trump’s “Big Beautiful” spending bill.
“The Big Ugly Bill will INCREASE the deficit to $2.5 trillion!” warned Musk.
“In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both big and beautiful,” read another missive. “Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.”
Musk also reshared years-old tweets from Trump in an effort to highlight the president’s alleged hypocrisy.
“I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling—I am a Republican & I am embarrassed!” Trump wrote in January of 2013. Those words are at odds with Trump’s most recent position on the debt ceiling. The 47th president said on Wednesday that he was “very pleased to announce” that he agrees with longtime Democratic rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has called for the debt ceiling to be scrapped. “Wise words,” Musk replied sarcastically to Trump’s 2013 post.
Musk escalated his rhetoric as Trump finished his meeting with Merz. Musk said Trump was guilty of “ingratitude” and suggested the 47th president could not have won the 2024 election without his financial assistance. “Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” wrote Musk. The DOGE man then created a poll which asked X users if he should form “a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?” The poll received more than 3 million votes by Thursday evening with more than 80% of respondents voting in support of Musk’s idea.
Responding on Truth Social, Trump said he “asked Musk to leave” his administration because the tech titan was “wearing thin.” Trump added, “I took away his EV mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted… and he just went CRAZY!”
The president wasn’t finished. In a separate post to Truth, Trump threatened Musk’s business by suggesting the “easiest way to save money on the Budget” is “to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”
The stock price of Tesla collapsed following the threat, finishing almost 15 percent down on the day and erasing more than $150 billion in market cap from the carmaker, marking the company’s biggest daily loss in history. It was amid the Tesla sell off that Musk fired off what he called “the really big bomb,” accusing Trump of being “in the Epstein files.”
“That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk stated. “Have a nice day, DJT!” Adding fuel to the fire, Musk later suggested that Trump be impeached and that Vice President J.D. Vance be made president instead.
In retaliation to the series of tweets, Trump ally Steve Bannon called Musk an “illegal” and said the South African tech magnate should be deported from the United States “immediately.”
Writing on Truth Social late Thursday evening, Trump seemed to lower the temperature.
“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,” Trump wrote. “This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It’s a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. If this Bill doesn’t pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn’t create this mess, I’m just here to FIX IT.”
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