Elon Musk with President Trump at the White House in March, during happier days.. Photo / Haiyun Jiang, The New York Times
Elon Musk with President Trump at the White House in March, during happier days.. Photo / Haiyun Jiang, The New York Times
The speed of the fallout was breathtaking, with President Trump celebrating Elon Musk during an Oval Office farewell just last week.
The moment had finally come, and it was every bit as lowdown, vindictive, personal, petty, operatic, childish, consequential, messy and public as many had always expected it would be.
“One thing’s for sure,” Elon Musk posted on his social platform, X, midway through his relentless hours-long attack on Donald Trump, “it ain’t boring!”
The clash of the titans was upon us, and the gloves were off.
The speed of the fallout was breathtaking. Up until about 14 seconds ago, Musk was flying on Trump’s planes, staying at his homes, socialising with his children. On Friday, Trump celebrated him with an Oval Office farewell address and gave him a novelty, oversize key to the White House.
But all was not well. Musk had been stewing about the sweeping domestic policy bill that the White House was pushing through Congress. By Thursday afternoon, he started spitting venom.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk wrote on X. “Such ingratitude.”
Less than a week ago, Musk was all smiles during his farewell in the Oval Office. Photo / Haiyun Jiang, The New York Times
Usually, when Trump has a big, messy falling-out in public, it is with someone who needs him, a lesser being who lives in fear of a primary challenge or somehow being ruined. But now he was beefing with the rare person who has leverage over him – political and financial leverage and perhaps even some emotional leverage. When Trump said Thursday that he was “very disappointed in Elon,” he sounded as if he meant it.
But Trump, being the President of the United States, had some leverage of his own.
He mused on Truth Social that the “easiest way to save money in our Budget” would be to wipe out Musk’s government subsidies and contracts. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” Trump added, causing Musk to erupt further.
There was a screwball element to their back-and-forth: because Trump and Musk are each the masters of their own social media platform, neither one was directly replying to the other. Anyone following along at home (which is to say, everyone) had to toggle between platforms to keep up with these keyboard cowboys as they aimed shots at each other.
“THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING” was a top trending topic on Musk’s platform Thursday. There was a schoolyard aspect to their scrap as many on the playground rushed to jump in. “SPICY,” Laura Loomer posted. “hey @realDonaldTrump lmk if u need any breakup advice,” posted Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Musk’s children. Musk began to hit the “unfollow” button on accounts belonging to close Trump allies such as Charlie Kirk and Stephen Miller.
Musk posted that Trump would never have won the election without his help. “Such ingratitude," he wrote. Photo / Haiyun Jiang, The New York Times
Four hours into the shootout, a peacekeeper emerged in the form of Kanye West. “Broooos please noooooo,” he posted on X with an emoji of two people hugging. “We love you both so much.”
But they seemed far beyond the point of hugging it out. A line had been crossed that probably could never be uncrossed. “Time to drop the really big bomb,” Musk wrote shortly after 3pm, “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” The implication that Trump is somehow connected to Epstein’s crimes was an especially explosive one to make, given that large swathes of Trump’s base remain so animated by the sordid details of that particular case.
“Some food for thought,” Musk wrote in another especially cutting post. “Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years.”
The red Tesla Trump purchased from Musk was parked outside the White House on Thursday. Photo / Doug Mills, The New York Times
Questions swirled above the fray: Just how hard might Trump, who has been shown to have no qualms about weaponising Government, actually go after Musk? Are Tesla and SpaceX about to get DOGE’d?
What would happen to that red Tesla that Musk parked at the White House, the one that Trump’s young aides love to drive around and post pictures from?
And would Musk have to send back his key to the White House?
