Clash of the year: Trump and Musk engage in a public feud
And lose billions in a single day
American media had long anticipated an open conflict between billionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. As early as spring, signs of disagreement began to emerge, but the scale and speed of this “political divorce” surprised even analysts. The clash was particularly unexpected given that Musk had been one of Trump’s key campaign donors.
Following Trump’s meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, he publicly responded for the first time to Musk’s criticism of the bill “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” which includes key elements of Trump’s platform: tax cuts and stricter immigration policy.
The core issue is the economy. Musk argues that implementing this bill would increase the budget deficit by $2.4 trillion. This directly contradicts the goals of the DOGE department, which he headed until recently and which was supposed to reduce the national debt. He was especially outraged by the gradual elimination of tax incentives for electric vehicle manufacturers — a direct blow to his main asset, Tesla.
The confrontation quickly escalated into the public sphere: Musk took to the platform X (formerly Twitter), while Trump responded via his own social network, Truth Social.
Musk stated:
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election. Democrats would control the House, and Republicans would have only 51 seats in the Senate.”
Trump fired back:
“The easiest way to save billions in the budget is to end government subsidies and contracts for Musk.”
The fallout has already been severe: Tesla shares dropped 14% in a single day, cutting the company’s market cap by over $152 billion. Musk himself lost around $34 billion.
Trump’s corporation, Trump Media and Technology Group, fell by 8%, shrinking his net worth by $202 million. In addition, the TRUMP memecoin dropped by 10%, resulting in approximately $900 million in losses for the U.S. president.
Trump allies joined the fray. Former adviser Steve Bannon called for an investigation into Musk’s immigration status, implying he might be residing in the U.S. illegally, given that he was born in South Africa.
“I firmly believe he’s illegal and should be immediately deported from the country,” Bannon wrote.
Musk, in turn, agreed with a follower’s suggestion that Trump should be impeached. Later, he accused Trump of being involved in the “Epstein files” — linked to the disgraced financier who faced numerous charges related to trafficking minors and forcing them into prostitution.
Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019. The full contents of the files were never made public (according to Musk, because Trump’s name is in them), but many celebrities were implicated in the scandal — including Prince Andrew of the British royal family.
Another affected party is SpaceX. Trump threatened to cut off government funding for the company. In response, Musk said he would decommission Crew Dragon — the spacecraft that transports American astronauts to the ISS. He later walked back that statement.
The rift between Trump and Musk appears to be turning from a political disagreement into a full-blown war, with profound economic and reputational consequences for both sides.
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