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‘Such ingratitude’: Trump and Musk alliance devolves into bitter feud Musk calls for Trump to be impeached as extraordinary feud escalates
(about 2 hours later)
In latest twist Musk assails president for being ungrateful in rapidly deteriorating relationship Former adviser taunts president over links to Epstein while Trump threatens to cancel contracts for Musk companies
Donald Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk appeared on the precipice of devolving into bitter personal acrimony on Thursday as the onetime special adviser publicly assailed the president for being ungrateful for the millions he spent to get him elected. Trump-Musk spat – latest updates
Elon Musk called for Donald Trump to be impeached after mocking his connections to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the president threatened to cancel federal contracts and tax subsidies for Musk’s companies in an extraordinary social media feud on Thursday.
The deterioration of their once close relationship into bitter acrimony came over the course of several remarkable hours during which the president and the world’s richest man hurled deeply personal insults over matters significant and insignificant.
In the most churlish moment of the astonishing saga, Musk said on X the reason the Trump administration had not released the files into Epstein was because they implicated the president. He later quote-tweeted a post calling for Trump to be removed and said Trump’s tariffs would cause a recession.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk wrote, after Trump threatened to cut subsidies for Musk’s companies as it would save “billions”.
The direct shots at Trump were the latest twist in the public feud over a Republican spending bill that Musk had criticized. Trump and Musk had been careful not to hit each other directly, but the pair discarded restraint as it escalated online.
The bizarre drama served to underscore the degree to which Trump and Musk’s relationship has been one of mutual convenience, despite the White House claiming for months that they were simply ideologically aligned.
It also caused the rightwing writer Ashley St Clair, who gave birth to Musk’s 14th known child and sued Musk for child support, to weigh in. “Let me know if u need any breakup advice,” she posted on X, tagging Trump.
Shares in Tesla, Musk’s electronic vehicle company, fell almost 15% on Thursday afternoon with the decline timed to when Trump’s remarks began. Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, is not publicly traded, but competitors to SpaceX rose on the news.
For weeks, Musk has complained about the budget bill, and used the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimating the bill would add $2.4tn to the deficit over the next decade as an opening to condemn the legislation as a “disgusting abomination”.
On Thursday, Trump appeared to finally have had enough of Musk’s complaints. Speaking in the Oval Office as the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, looked on in bemusement, Trump mocked Musk’s recent black eye and questioned why he didn’t cover it up.
“You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval desk. Even with a black eye. I said, do you want a little makeup? He said, no, I don’t think so. Which is interesting,” Trump said. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will any more.”
Trump then ratcheted up his barbs against Musk, accusing him of turning against the bill solely out of self-interest, as the bill did not benefit Tesla, Musk’s electronic vehicle company. Trump also pulled the nomination of Musk’s preferred candidate to lead Nasa.
“I’m very disappointed with Elon,” Trump said. “He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out we’re going to cut the EV mandate.”
Musk then went on the warpath.
Within minutes of Trump’s comments appearing in a clip on X, where Musk was responding in real time, Musk accused the president of lying about the bill, and accused Trump of being ungrateful for the millions he spent to get him elected.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk said in a post on X. He added: “Such ingratitude.”“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk said in a post on X. He added: “Such ingratitude.”
The direct shot at Trump was the latest twist in a rapidly deteriorating alliance. Trump and Musk had been careful not to hit each other directly, but they both discarded restraint as what started as a dispute over Trump’s domestic spending bill escalated. Musk taking credit for Trump’s election win initially threatened to be the touchpoint for their relationship, given Trump had made a point to say that Musk’s contributions had no effect on him winning the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Musk taking credit for Trump’s election win threatens to be a touchpoint for their relationship, in particular. Trump had made a point to say Musk’s contribution had no bearing on his ability to win the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania in the 2024 election. But then Trump posted on Truth Social that he had fired Musk from his role as a special adviser because he was “wearing thin” at the White House, and Musk responded: “Such an obvious lie. So sad.”
The Trump-Musk relationship may yet get worse. Hours after the feud kicked off, Trump threatened to punish Musk, posting on Truth Social: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.” It was less than a half an hour later that Musk fired off his Epstein tweet, in effect accusing him of being part of an alleged child sexual abuse ring linked to Epstein, using a dog whistle for the Maga movement to try to set them against the president.
Shares of Tesla, Musk’s electronic vehicle company, fell nearly 12% shortly after midday, with the decline timed to when Trump’s remarks began. In doing so, Musk ignored his own connections to Epstein. In 2014, like Trump, Musk was photographed at a party with Ghislaine Maxwell, a former Epstein girlfriend who was convicted in 2021 on charges that she helped the financier’s sex-trafficking activities.
For weeks, Musk has complained about the proposed Republican budget bill and used the non-partisan congressional budget office estimating the bill would add $2.4tn to the deficit over the next decade as an opening to slam the legislation as a “disgusting abomination”.
On Thursday, Trump appeared to finally have had enough of Musk’s complaints. Speaking in the Oval Office as German chancellor Friedrich Merz looked on in bemusement, Trump mocked Musk’s recent black eye and questioned why he didn’t cover it up.
“You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval desk. Even with a black eye. I said, do you want a little makeup? He said, ‘No, I don’t think so,’ which is interesting,” Trump said. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”
Trump then ratcheted up his barbs at Musk, accusing him of turning against the bill solely out of self-interest, as the bill did not benefit Tesla, Musk’s electronic vehicle company, and Trump pulled the nomination of Musk’s preferred candidate to lead Nasa.
“I’m very disappointed with Elon,” Trump said. “He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem & he only developed the problem when he found out we’re going to cut EV mandate.”
An unrestrained Musk hit back within minutes of the clip being posted on X, seemingly learning of Trump’s comments in real time. As Washington watched in disbelief at the back and forth playing out online, Musk effectively accused Trump of lying.
“False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!” Musk posted.
The public feud comes after a remarkable partnership that lasted longer than many Democrats on Capitol Hill and in Trump’s orbit predicted.The public feud comes after a remarkable partnership that lasted longer than many Democrats on Capitol Hill and in Trump’s orbit predicted.
Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Trump’s re-election campaign through his specially created America Pac which shouldered a large portion of Trump’s door-knocking campaign, although that the actual impact of that ground game effort is unclear. Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Trump’s re-election campaign through his specially created America Pac, which shouldered a large portion of Trump’s door-knocking campaign, although the actual impact of that ground-game effort is unclear.