Musk-Trump, from fast friends to breaking up: A timeline

Yahoo

21 hours ago

President Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk's alliance formed with swift and intense speed less than a year ago. It devolved just as quickly this week.
Their relationship abruptly imploded in a matter of days, as a simmering feud boiled over and spilled out in public between the world's richest man and the world's most powerful leader.
Just last week, Trump presented a ceremonial key to Musk at the White House. But on Thursday, the two were trading personal insults and threatening to hurt each other's business and political prospects.
Here's a look at the relationship's history, from the friendship phase to the nasty breakup.
Up until last year, Musk had largely stayed out of the political spotlight.
And there were times when he seemed skeptical of Trump.
In a 2015 interview with Vanity Fair, he said he got involved as 'little as possible' but thought Trump getting the 2016 presidential nomination 'wouldn't be good.'
Musk, like many Silicon Valley leaders at the time, took issue with some of Trump's policies, but his criticism was less public.
Trump did not hold back in his criticism of Musk in 2022, calling the tech billionaire a 'bulls‑‑‑ artist' for supporting the former president's opponents in 2016 and 2020.
Musk had flirted with Trump during the presidential race, but he went full MAGA after the attempt on Trump's life at a rally in Butler, Pa.
Musk's politics had gradually shifted to the right for years during the former Biden administration, which notably snubbed Tesla during the 2021 electric vehicle summit. The tech mogul took issue with the Biden White House over its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and its handling of immigration and the southern border.His shift in politics culminated with his endorsement of Trump in July last year after Trump survived the assassination attempt in Butler and was formally nominated by the GOP the following week.
Once in the Trump fold, Musk quickly brought the Silicon Valley 'move fast and break things' approach to the campaign trail.
As the 2024 election inched closer, Musk and Trump's alliance was deepening.
Musk increased his rally appearances with Trump, while ramping up his political discourse on his social media platform X. Musk used his online platform as a vehicle to attack former Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic leaders and prop up Trump's presidential bid.
Musk, whose net worth is north of $385 billion, said in March last year that he would not donate to either Biden or Trump during the 2024 presidential election.
But months later, the billionaire entrepreneur became the biggest donor in the 2024 White House race, spending more than $290 million to propel Trump back to the Oval Office and boost Republicans in congressional races, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
The majority of Musk's contributions went to America PAC, a super PAC that backed Trump's presidential bid. The outside group, which was filed with the FEC in May last year, spent money on direct mail, digital advertising, canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts.
He also contributed to other outside groups during the election, including the RBG PAC, which worked on moderating Trump's stance on abortion.
By election night, it became clear Musk was moving closer to Trump's inner circle.
He joined the president at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as they awaited election results and even joined the Trump family for a picture with his son 'Little X.'
Shortly after winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump selected Musk and ex-GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory board focused on reducing the size of the federal government, slashing spending and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.
Ramaswamy departed DOGE in January and is now running to become Ohio's next governor.
Musk, who served as an adviser to the cost-cutting board, initially set the goal for DOGE to slash $2 trillion from the federal government. Later, the goal post was lowered to $1 trillion.
The latest estimate claimed that DOGE saved $180 billion.
At this point, the Trump and Musk relationship appeared strong, even though some were already wondering how long it would last and when the two would have a serious falling out.
Musk found himself at the center of a debate last December among Trump backers and MAGA-allied conservatives over the H-1B visa, a temporary, nonimmigrant work permit.
Musk fiercely defended the H-1B process, arguing that the program allows U.S. companies to hire talented employees when corporations cannot find an ample number of workers within the U.S.
The tech billionaire locked horns over the issue with far-right activist and ardent Trump supporter Laura Loomer and Trump's ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon, making a rival of Bannon in the process. Bannon and Loomer argued that the program takes away job opportunities from Americans.
Trump eventually weighed in, siding with Musk and Ramaswamy in the heated debate. The move signaled how much Trump valued Musk's insight.
'I've always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That's why we have them,' Trump said in an interview with the New York Post in late December.
Bannon, however, continued to take public shots at Musk over the next several months.
Musk seemed as close as ever to the president as Trump launched his second term and DOGE's cost-cutting initiatives hit numerous federal agencies.
The lightning speed of DOGE's infiltration underscored Musk's sudden power over the federal government as an unelected special government employee.
The DOGE cuts stirred chaos and confusion in Washington and led to layoffs of federal employees and spending cuts across agencies.
While the official tally is unknown, a New York Times analysis estimated that there have been more than 58,000 job cuts and another 76,000 federal workers have taken buyouts as of May 12.
Several of DOGE's actions, including the team's access to sensitive data, have been challenged in court while protests unfolded across the country.
Musk's tightness with Trump was on public view when he sat in on his first Cabinet meeting in February.
While Musk's role as DOGE chief was not a confirmed Cabinet position, the tech billionaire made a statement by participating in multiple White House Cabinet meetings during his tenure.
By March, reports circulated that Trump's Cabinet members were increasingly taking issue with Musk's apparent authority through his DOGE leadership.
Up until this point, Trump was publicly supportive of Musk's work and shied away from commenting on the reported conflicts.
In one meeting, Trump asked if anyone was 'unhappy with Elon' and suggested he would throw them out, signaling a level of loyalty to his adviser.
But during a March Cabinet meeting, Trump showed early signs of shifting his tone on Musk's power. The president told his Cabinet secretaries that they lead on staffing choices and that DOGE cuts should be made with a 'scalpel' not a 'hatchet.'
'As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the 'scalpel' rather than the 'hatchet,' Trump wrote in March on Truth Social.
This marked a shift from where Musk stood in February, when his power seemed above other Cabinet members.
Behind the scenes, Musk reportedly ruffled the feathers of a host of Cabinet members as his DOGE workers dug into various government agencies.
Musk clashed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during an early March Cabinet huddle, slamming the nation's top diplomat for not terminating much of the State Department workforce and saying that he was only 'good on TV' but not much else, according to The New York Times.
Rubio fired back, saying that Musk was not telling the truth. Trump eventually stepped in to defend Rubio and commended the former senator for his work.
During the same meeting, Musk butted heads with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over the condition of the gear the Federal Aviation Administration uses to track aircraft and what must be done to make it better. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was on Musk's side during the exchange.
Duffy said to Musk that DOGE staffers tried to fire air traffic controllers, a claim the tech mogul said was not true. Duffy, the former House GOP lawmaker, also criticized Musk for claiming that airport control tower staff were brought on through diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
The heated exchange ended with, again, Trump stepping in and telling Duffy that he needs to hire 'geniuses' from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to be air traffic controllers.
Publicly, Duffy praised DOGE's work and the administration's decision to slash the federal workforce, saying the Transportation Department would work 'closely' with Musk and the advisory board to 'revolutionize the way government is run.'
The public meetings remained largely cordial, despite reported tensions.
All the while, Trump urged Musk on.
Musk waded into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this year, fueling speculation of his continued involvement in campaigns.
He backed Brad Schimel in the race over liberal candidate Susan Crawford, spending millions through the America PAC and traveling to Wisconsin, where he handed out $1 million in checks to voters who penned a petition against 'activist judges.'
Democrats used Musk's involvement as part of their messaging in the last few days of the hotly contested election. Crawford prevailed in the match-up in early April.
In May, Musk said he would pull back his spending in elections, although he left the door open for future expenditures.
Musk, who was deemed a special government employee by the White House, told investors in April he planned to reduce his time spent on DOGE once his status expired, though it was not clear what that would look like.
His comments were welcomed by Tesla investors amid concerns the leader was not giving enough attention to his tech ventures as a result of his work in Washington.
The move did not appear to be a result of any conflict with the president, who previously said he expected Musk to eventually return to running his businesses.
Musk and Trump confirmed in late May the tech billionaire would be stepping down from DOGE on May 31, the day his special government employee status ended.
The two held a press conference celebrating his time in the White House, during which the administration said Musk would remain a 'friend and an adviser' after leaving DOGE.
Musk, standing with his arms crossed next to Trump, who was seated at the Resolute Desk, and sporting a black DOGE cap, showed up with a black eye on right side of his face. When asked what caused it, Musk said it resulted from his young son punching him while the two were 'horsing around.'
'I was just horsing around with little X and I said, 'Go ahead, punch me in the face.' And he did. Turns out even a 5-year-old punching you in the face actually is —,' Musk told reporters.
Trump gifted Musk a gold key to the White House for his 'incredible service,' and the tech mogul maintained it was 'not the end of DOGE, but really the beginning.'
While Musk appeared somewhat subdued, the two seemed to be on good terms, and Musk reiterated he would remain an adviser to Trump.
The tone from the Oval Office did not last long.
Just days later, Musk launched a public push against Trump's tax and spending bill as the Senate prepared to take it up after it passed the House last month.
'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,' Musk posted on June 3.
The legislation, officially titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, extends Trump's 2017 tax cuts and boosts funding for border and defense priorities, while cutting spending on programs such as food assistance and Medicaid.
A day later, Musk called on lawmakers to kill the legislation and urged constituents to call their congressional offices to oppose the bill.
The White House, at the time, brushed off Musk's bashing of the bill, stating the criticism 'doesn't change the president's opinion.'
Up until Thursday morning, tensions seemed limited to their disagreement over the bill rather than their friendship.
Tensions rapidly boiled after Trump told reporters he was 'very surprised and very disappointed' in Musk. The comment set off an hours-long back-and-forth between the two.
Musk took credit for Trump's electoral victory last November, while the president argued Musk was upset about the legislation's repeal of the electric vehicle tax credit and that he was aware of the legislation from the beginning. Musk rejected this.
Musk later alleged Trump is included in the Jeffrey Epstein files, and he backed calls for the president to be impeached and succeeded by Vice President Vance. Musk also floated the idea of forming a third party.
Trump fired back, threatening to eliminate the federal contracts Musk's businesses have and suggested that the tech billionaire's disenchantment should have come sooner. At one point, he called Musk 'crazy,' claiming the tech billionaire was 'wearing thin.'
'I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It's a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given,' Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social.
Musk also said he would decommission SpaceX's Dragon, the spacecraft used to shuttle astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station. Hours later, he appeared to backpedal when engaging with a user on X.
Less than a day since the blowout began, Musk signaled that he is open to brokering peace with Trump.
Amid the haymakers the two were exchanging on Thursday, allies of both men offered to be peacemakers.
'I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country. We are much stronger together than apart,' Bill Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square, said Thursday on X.
In response, Musk wrote, 'You're not wrong.'
By Friday morning, The White House looked to turn the page on the feud and shut down talk of a potential call for the two men to reconcile.
'No. I won't be speaking to him for a while I guess, but I wish him well,' Trump told CNN in an interview.
While the two may need time for the dust to settle, the door for makeup may not be entirely closed.
Trump frequently clashes with advisers or allies, but some cases have resulted in a reconciliation. The president, for example, sparred memorably in the 2016 election with Rubio, who is now a key figure in Trump's second term.
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