The real reasons Musk is feuding with Trump

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It was just last week that Elon Musk played buddy-buddy with President Donald Trump in a friendly Oval Office event that marked the end of his White House service.

Now — mere days later — the split between the two has become increasingly bitter, and each is going after the other publicly.

This spat isn’t just personal. It has major implications for the country, as Musk has chosen to come out hard against the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda: his “big, beautiful bill.”

By Thursday afternoon, relations had deteriorated so utterly that Trump was threatening Musk’s federal contracts, and Musk was threatening to start a new party while accusing Trump of covering up “the Epstein files” to hide his own involvement.

The bill is packed with tax cuts, cuts to Medicaid and other programs, and new spending on Trump priorities like the border — and it would hugely increase the debt and deficit.

Shortly before he left his White House job, Musk raised eyebrows by saying publicly that he was “disappointed” in the House-passed bill. But now he’s gotten even more heated.

“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Musk posted Tuesday on X. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok!” he added the next day. “KILL the BILL!”

On Thursday, Trump said in the Oval Office that he was “very disappointed with Elon.” He added: “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk fired back on X. “Such ingratitude.”

Musk has presented his opposition to Trump’s bill — which began before he left the White House — as public-spirited and principled. But many speculate Musk has other motivations: for instance, his business interests (the bill rolls back many credits for clean energy, and for electric vehicles such as those Tesla makes).

“‘Elon was “wearing thin,” I asked him to leave, 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 posted Thursday on TruthSocial.

The bad blood didn’t start because of the bill. The reasons for the split go deeper — involving disappointment in DOGE, a pulled NASA nominee, and a promised $100 million that didn’t show up.

And it may not end with the bill, either. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump posted. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

In the heady initial weeks of Trump’s second term, the new president initially permitted Musk to run rampant through the federal government — ordering firings, putting workers on leave, and canceling contracts in a whirlwind of activity.

But, as I’ve written, a key turning point came in early March when, after several Cabinet secretaries complained, Trump reined Musk in, declaring he needed to work with Cabinet chiefs and use a “scalpel,” not a “hatchet.” (And, presumably, not a chainsaw.)

For the world’s richest man, it was a serious step down from being the super-empowered COO of the federal government, as he basically was in those opening weeks. His failure to swing a Wisconsin Supreme Court election, despite spending nearly $25 million on it, was another blow. And he increasingly started losing internal power struggles — for instance, to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Musk reportedly asked whether the White House could find a way to extend his service beyond the 120-day time limit he had as a “special government employee” — but was told no. And his final weeks in his White House post were tense. He tried to scuttle a major AI investment deal Trump ended up announcing during his trip to the Middle East last month, out of anger that it benefited his business rival Sam Altman.

Trump’s team was getting increasingly frustrated with Musk too. According to the New York Times, Musk had promised $100 million to fund Trump’s political operation — but hadn’t followed through.

Musk’s initial comments that he was “disappointed” in the “big, beautiful bill” were followed by that friendly Oval Office send-off with Trump. But immediately afterward, the White House hit back. As soon as Musk was out of government, on Saturday, Trump yanked the nomination of a close Musk ally and friend, Jared Isaacman, to be head of NASA.

This looked a lot like payback against Musk. Trump claimed he pulled the nomination because he’d just learned that Isaacman had made donations to Democrats in the past. In reality, these donations had been long disclosed, and CNN reported that they’d only come up again because “a faction of people in Trump’s inner circle” had soured on Musk. (Space policy is extremely important to Musk, the CEO of SpaceX.)

So Musk’s attempt to foment a right-wing, Tea Party-style revolt against Trump’s bill this week may well be payback of his own — showing that he can hurt Trump, too.

But can he? It would only take a few defections to sink the bill, given the GOP’s slim majorities in both chambers. Yet in a showdown between Trump and Musk, few if any congressional Republicans would side with Musk — Tea Party arguments don’t resonate like they used to in the Trump era.

The risk, for Musk, is that — just as in that Wisconsin Supreme Court election — his attempts to swing politics end up revealing he has a lot less sway than he thinks.

Update, June 5, 2025, 3:45 pm ET: This story was originally published earlier on June 5 and has been updated to include new details of Trump and Musk’s public feuding.