Musk-Trump Clash Goes Nuclear

The growing feud between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk reached a boiling point on Thursday afternoon.

Trump hit back on Elon Musk following Musk's rampage against his domestic megabill, saying he's "very disappointed" in the Tesla billionaire.

"Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," Trump said in the Oval Office.

Musk responded in kind to the personal comments in real time on X, where he swiped at the legislation and at Trump directly.

At one point, Musk responded to a user: "Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate."

"Such ingratitude," Musk added.

Trump, for his part, posted on his own social media platform, Truth Social, that Musk was “wearing thin” and Trump had asked him to leave the White House.

Musk left his position as the Department of Government Efficiency last week, saying at the time that his appointment as a special government employee had come to an end based on a pre-determined time limit. He said at the time that he planned to remain a friend and adviser to Trump and that the committee would continue his work without him.

Trump said of Musk: “I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump wrote.

Trump suggested in a separate post that the “easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”

“I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” he added.

The back-and-forth only escalated as the day went on.

“Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle,” Musk wrote in a post on X.

The Tesla founder included a poll for his more than 200 million followers asking users to vote “yes” or “no” on the idea of a third political party to challenge Republicans and Democrats.

Musk followed up his poll with a post claiming Trump is included in the files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. “That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk claimed.

Ian Miles Cheong, a prominent Musk supporter and right-wing activist on X, tweeted: "President vs Elon. Who wins? My money's on Elon. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him.

Musk responded to Cheong: "Yes."

The tit-for-tat argument between the one-time friends began when Musk dismissed Trump’s “big, beautiful” spending bill as a “disgusting abomination.”

“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” he said in a post on X.

“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” he added.

Trump then voiced his “disappointment” with Musk over his criticism of the bill, leading Musk to call Trump “ungrateful.”

Musk, who donated millions to Trump’s 2024 presidential election, suggested Trump would not have won the election without his help.

While the “big, beautiful” bill aims to cut $1.5 trillion in government spending, it also increases the debt limit by $4 trillion. The U.S. government is more than $36 trillion in debt.

The bill would extend the 2017 tax cuts, introduce new tax cuts such as Trump’s signature “no tax on tips” policy, and add work requirements to Medicaid, among other provisions.

The measure passed 215 to 214 in the House, largely along party lines after Speaker Mike Johnson was able to overcome opposition from members of his caucus who argued the bill should include further spending cuts to offset tax cuts that will add to the country’s deficit.

Now, the bill heads to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future. The Senate will take up the bill under budget reconciliation, which will allow Republicans to pass the bill using a simple-majority threshold.

Some lawmakers agreed with Musk’s criticism earlier this week.

“The Senate must make this bill better,” Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) replied to Musk’s post calling the bill a “disgusting abomination.”

“He’s right,” Representative Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) said of Musk. Massie was one of two Republicans to oppose the bill in the House.