June 05, 2025 02:22 PM UTC

Musk v. Trump Fight to the Metaphorical Death

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Musk seems to support…impeachment?

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The internet is abuzz today as President Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Elon Musk exchange blow after blow in an online squabble that is starting to get nasty:

As NBC News explains:

The simmering tension between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk exploded in public Thursday, with the president sharply criticizing the Tesla CEO’s attacks on the Republican policy bill and Musk firing back that the president would have lost the election without his help.

“I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”

The comments — and the flurry of online retorts from both men that quickly followed — mark the latest development in a remarkable break between the world’s richest man and the U.S. president who invited him into his administration. Musk’s actions at the Department of Government Efficiency defined the early stages of Trump’s second term, and the two showered each other in mutual praise earlier this year. But the relationship cooled as Trump’s priorities shifted to major spending legislation and Musk wound down his time at the White House.

Trump suggested that Musk, who earlier this week called the GOP bill a “disgusting abomination,” was upset that the bill cut out a tax credit meant to incentivize electric vehicle purchases.

“Elon’s upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles and they’re having a hard time with electric vehicles and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy,” Trump said. “Elon knew this from the beginning.”

Tesla is the biggest electric vehicle maker in the United States. The company’s sales have suffered in recent months, reflecting increased global competition and backlash generated by Musk’s political activities.

Trump and Musk apparently didn’t get along as well as they pretended in recent months, and Musk’s official departure from government meddling last week seems to have opened the floodgates of disgust between the two men. Trump is angry that Musk has been openly critical of the budget bill recently passed by House Republicans that would decimate Medicaid and SNAP benefits while raising the federal debt by trillions of dollars in order to fund tax breaks for rich people. During a meeting with German Chancellor
Friedrich Merz at the White House on Thursday, Trump went right at Musk.

From POLITICO:

“He hasn’t said [anything] bad about me personally, but I’m sure that will be next,” the president said on Thursday.

Sure enough, minutes later, Musk said on X: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”

“Such ingratitude,” Musk added. He donated nearly $300 million in the 2024 election. 

Trump later responded to Musk’s criticisms by claiming that Musk was once supportive of the Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” — something that Musk did not appreciate:

Trump then shifted to shitting on Musk’s time as a special government employee in charge of DOGE-ing the government — a project that ended up costing American taxpayers more money than it saved — and the war of words was on!

Musk brought out old statements by Trump showing that the President was once opposed to the same sort of pork-laden legislative atrocity that he now champions. At more or less the same time, Trump started suggesting that he might propose cutting subsidies that benefit Musk’s businesses:

It was at about this point that Musk dropped the “Epstein” bomb Tweet embedded at the beginning of this post.

The escalated feud has put Congressional Republicans in an uncomfortable position of trying to remain obedient to Dear Leader Trump while also not pissing off the world’s richest man. As The York Times explains:

House Republicans suddenly find themselves scrambling to mollify Elon Musk, who has been venting his rage at them for voting for a Trump-backed domestic policy bill he calls a “disgusting abomination.”

After Mr. Musk threatened to “fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Republicans from Speaker Mike Johnson on down are trying to manage an unmanageable tech billionaire who has become one of the most powerful figures in Republican politics.

Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton) even tried to thank Musk for his criticisms:

“We’re the party of free thought,” said Representative Gabe Evans, a first-term Republican from a competitive district in Colorado who benefited from $870,000 in spending from Mr. Musk’s super PAC in the last election. “We’ll get to the point of being able to address some of his concerns about the legislation and what the bill actually does.”

Mr. Evans, who won his seat last year by less than a percentage point, even with Mr. Musk’s financial backing, said he was not worried about political punishment. “I have a good rapport with my district,” he said. “I’m always open to having a dialogue, but I’m not too worried about it.”

Another Colorado Republican, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Windsor, tried to use a meme to calm things down:

We’ll continue to update this story as Trump and Musk exchange verbal blows.