Internet's best reactions to Donald Trump and Elon Musk's political fallout on social media
The escalating feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has taken over the internet, with netizens reacting swiftly to the political drama.
Initially, tensions arose over Trump's proposed tax bill, which eliminates subsidies for electric vehicles—a move that directly impacts Musk's companies, Tesla and SpaceX. Musk criticised the bill as a 'disgusting abomination' and accused Trump of prioritising outdated energy policies.
Trump retaliated by questioning Musk's loyalty and threatening to cancel federal contracts. The situation escalated further when Musk implied Trump's name appears in unreleased Jeffrey Epstein documents, although he provided no evidence. This marked a turning point, shifting the feud from political to personal.
What started as a policy dispute spiralled into a deeply personal public battle, and social media was brimming with viral content, memes, and sarcastic commentary.
Popular accounts and public figures, including Ashley St. Clair, the alleged mother of one of Musk's children, and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, joined the online conversation. Meanwhile, Trump's political opponents also became a highlight amidst the trolling.
hey @realDonaldTrump lmk if u need any breakup advice — Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) June 5, 2025
I hope Kamala Harris has a giant glass of wine in one hand and her phone in the other right now. — That Gay Guy Candle Co. (@gayguycandleco) June 5, 2025
I wish Biden were alive to see this — gianmarco (@GianmarcoSoresi) June 5, 2025
HAHAHA! AOC's reaction to the beef between Elon Musk and Donald Trump:
'The girls are fighting, aren't they?' pic.twitter.com/uWutYwqzPy
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) June 6, 2025
Even Kanye West, now known as Ye, chimed in with a heartfelt message for the two.
Broooos please noooooo 🫂 We love you both so much — ye (@kanyewest) June 5, 2025
Some users expressed how the feud had been imminent, while others focused on its impact.
Who gets JD Vance in the divorce — PointlessHub (@HubPointless) June 5, 2025
It was foretold. pic.twitter.com/Oj909VRL1m — Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) June 5, 2025
We're like four or five tweets away from national secrets — Matt Margolis (@ItsMattsLaw) June 5, 2025
Watching the richest man alive and the most powerful man in the world go head-to-headpic.twitter.com/dkf6z23d0c — Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) June 5, 2025
BREAKING: Hamas calls for a ceasefire between President Trump and Elon Musk — Cantaloupe News (@CantaloupeNews) June 5, 2025
Meanwhile, pop culture enthusiasts questioned the timing of the fallout.
sabrina carpenter's song 'manchild' dropping tonight when all of this shit is going down. the promo is crazy — bethany ∘°∘♡∘°∘ eras forever (@corneliastagain) June 5, 2025
elon and trump messy gay breakup happy pride month❤️ — bald ann dowd (@ali_sivi) June 5, 2025
The feud, originally triggered by disagreements over Trump's new tax plan, has now ignited cultural, political conversations online. With Musk's comments and Trump's counterattacks trending, the digital battleground shows no signs of calming.
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Express Tribune
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Apple of discord
Listen to article When Jon Stewart does a segment on international politics or economics, you pay attention. My apologies for the double negative in the next sentence, but it conveys my sentiment adequately: there is nothing not to like there. Stewart and John Oliver both remain prescient in their comedic timing, activism and political acumen. Recently, Stewart hosted a segment with author and journalist Patrick McGee, who has written a book on the relationship between China and Apple. It is called Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company. The explosive book claims Apple accidentally built China into a tech superpower while trapping itself in the process. Based on 200+ interviews with former Apple executives, it posits that Apple's $275 billion investment in China exceeded the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe. Starting in 2003, Apple's pursuit of cheap manufacturing evolved into something unprecedented under Tim Cook. The company trained 28 million Chinese workers and transferred cutting-edge knowledge through what McGee calls "the Apple Squeeze" — sending thousands of engineers to educate suppliers like Foxconn. This massive technology transfer inadvertently supported China's plan for technological independence. Ironically, Apple created its own competition. Chinese companies it trained now outcompete Apple domestically, while Apple has discovered it can't easily leave — replicating operations elsewhere would cost hundreds of billions. As Apple grew more successful, it became politically captured, removing VPN apps and storing Chinese data locally to maintain access. McGee believes the world's most valuable company became trapped by its own success, transforming from a symbol of innovation into the unwitting architect of its biggest rival's rise. The book doesn't outright present a solution or reset to fix this paradox. The reason I mentioned the Jon Stewart interview at the outset rather than the book itself is that, in that interview, McGee seems to offer some alternatives. They discuss President Trump's desire to reshore the industrial base — agreeing with the principle, but noting it may not be possible given business bottom lines and balance sheets. McGee goes on to say: "I'm a big fan of friend-shoring rather than reshoring. Right, we should be doing what we did in China, but with allied nations like India, like Mexico." I'll get back to the idea of "friend-shoring" in a bit. But you have to appreciate that his timing is perfect. The world was still taking stock of the "deepseek moment" when more surprises were sprung: Chinese advances in quantum computing; the tough competition Tesla is facing from BYD and other Chinese EV companies; and, last but not least, the short-lived India-Pakistan war which tanked Dassault's stocks while skyrocketing Chengdu's. It's definitely a question on every analyst's mind: how did we end up here? Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world of magical realism and some twist of fate presented you the 'culprit' on a platter? I find McGee's quest to do just that. But the real world doesn't work that way. In fact, I remain highly sceptical of people who come bearing gifts of simplistic explanations. You are entitled to question my assertion that the explanation here is simplistic. This, of course, is a very well-crafted and documented book, full of internally consistent nuances. But there lies a problem too. Despite so much neatly packed information, the book has a broader contextual deficit. Remember, there is a very effective strategy to influence a reader's mind if you are a clever writer — and it involves the exploitation of the cognitive load theory. The theory states that our working memory can only hold a small amount of information at any one time, and that instructional methods should avoid overloading it to maximise learning. This method does the opposite. You subject the reader's mind to information overload. While too many details build your credibility, shock, horror (depending on the nature of information), and confusion can break your mental defences and leave you prone to the author's manipulations. Even if we want to put a positive spin on this, McGee's work has a context problem, an agency problem, and a resolution problem. Context problem — because there is hardly any in-depth inquiry into why other markets in the same price range (India, Mexico) lost this opportunity to China. India's case is quite interesting, by the way. It's not as if India wasn't in competition. In fact, an entire book can be written on how Maruti Suzuki and the service industry built India's economy today. 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We invested in a third-world country and now it's giving us tough competition. Let's now pick another one with an emergent democracy deficit and replicate the model. What could go wrong?" I'm not a big fan of decoupling, but even if a de-risking effort has to be made, here's what I would have done: brought Apple's infrastructure to Canada near the US border. Canada has a lot of land and a smaller population. Then, in consultation with the Canadian and US governments, I would have brought in foreign, cheaper labour to the new plants and cities. This way, high-paying jobs like designing and engineering could be kept in the US, while building a product and labour value chain with total customisation options. This way, the US regains control of its technology and reshoring becomes feasible. Canada and the US move closer, talent from third-world countries gets a better life even in these anti-immigration times, and Canada adds to its working population. But for some reason, these guys won't tell you such solutions exist. India has an even stronger lobby than I originally thought.
Express Tribune
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'I got that war stopped': Trump on Pakistan-India ceasefire
US President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony for the new US ambassador to China, former US Senator David Perdue, at the White House in Washington, DC, US on May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS Listen to article US President Donald Trump said he successfully brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan last month, citing the threat of nuclear escalation as the primary motivator. The ceasefire, reached on May 10, halted the worst military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed nations in decades. The conflict, which saw both sides using fighter jets, drones, missiles, and artillery, led to around 70 casualties. Tensions had been escalating following an attack on April 22 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 tourists. India subsequently launched airstrikes on Pakistani cities on May 7, accusing Pakistan of being behind the attack, an allegation Islamabad denied, responding with strikes on Indian military targets. Speaking from the White House on Thursday, where he was hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump revealed the role he played in facilitating the ceasefire. He said, 'I spoke to some very talented people on both sides ... and I said, you know, we're dealing with you on trade, Pakistan and India right now. I said we're not going to deal with you on trade if you're going to go shooting each other and whipping out nuclear weapons that maybe even affect us.' Trump emphasised the threat posed by nuclear conflict, noting, 'Because you know that nuclear dust blows across oceans very quickly, it affects us.' The US president said that his warning about trade deals helped bring an end to the hostilities. 'I got that war stopped,' he said, crediting the leadership on both sides for backing off from military confrontation. Since the ceasefire, Pakistan has continued to express gratitude for Trump's mediation efforts, while India has rejected the notion that it was influenced by US pressure.
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US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 30, 2025. PHOTO:REUTERS Listen to article US President Donald Trump is not interested in talking with Elon Musk, a White House official said on Friday, signaling the president and his former ally might not resolve their feud over a sweeping tax-cut bill any time soon. The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no phone call between Trump and the Tesla CEO was planned for the day. Earlier, a different White House official had said the two were going to talk. In interviews with several US media outlets, Trump said he was focused on other matters. "I'm not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem, the poor guy's got a problem," he told CNN. Trump may get rid of the red Tesla Model S that he bought in March after showcasing Musk's electric cars on the White House lawn, the official said. Musk, for his part, did not directly address Trump but kept up his criticism of the massive Republican tax and spending bill that contains much of Trump's domestic agenda. On his social-media platform X, Musk amplified remarks made by others that Trump's "big beautiful bill" would hurt Republicans politically and add to the nation's $36.2 trillion debt. He replied "exactly" to a post by another X user that said Musk had criticized Congress and Trump had responded by criticizing Musk personally. The White House statements came one day after the two men battled openly in an extraordinary display of hostilities that marked a stark end to a close alliance. During the exchange, Trump suggested he would terminate government contracts with Musk's businesses, which include rocket company SpaceX and its satellite unit Starlink. Tesla shares rose on Friday, managing to claw back some steep losses from the previous session when it dropped 14% and lost $150 billion in value, the largest single-day decline in the company's history. Musk's high-profile allies have largely stayed silent during the feud. But one, investor James Fishback, called on Musk to apologize. "President Trump has shown grace and patience at a time when Elon's behavior is disappointing and frankly downright disturbing," Fishback said in a statement. Musk, the world's richest man, bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Trump named Musk to head up a controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending. Trump feted Musk at the White House a week ago as he wrapped up his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk cut only about half of 1% of total spending, far short of his brash plans to axe $2 trillion from the federal budget. Since then, Musk has denounced Trump's tax-cut and spending bill as a "disgusting abomination." His opposition is complicating efforts to pass the bill in Congress where Republicans hold a slim majority. Trump's bill narrowly passed the House of Representatives last month and is now before the Senate, where Republicans say they will make further changes. Nonpartisan analysts say the measure would add $2.4 trillion in debt over 10 years. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he has been texting with Musk and hopes the dispute is resolved quickly. "I don't argue with him about how to build rockets and I wish he wouldn't argue with me about how to craft legislation and pass it," Johnson said on CNBC. 'Very disappointed' Trump had initially stayed quiet while Musk campaigned to torpedo the bill, but broke his silence on Thursday, telling reporters he was "very disappointed" in Musk. The pair then traded barbs on their social media platforms. Musk, who spent nearly $300 million in last year's elections, said Trump would have lost without his support. Musk also asserted that Trump's signature import tariffs would push the US into a recession and responded "Yes" to a post on X saying Trump should be impeached. That would be highly unlikely given Trump's Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress. Musk's SpaceX plays a critical role in the US government's space program. When Trump posted that he might cancel Musk's contracts, the billionaire responded he would begin decommissioning SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, the only US spacecraft capable of sending astronauts to the International Space Station. Later, Musk backed off that threat. In a sign of a possible detente, Musk subsequently wrote: "You're not wrong" in response to billionaire investor Bill Ackman saying Trump and Musk should make peace. A prolonged feud could make it harder for Republicans to keep control of Congress in next year's midterm elections if Musk withholds financial support or other major Silicon Valley business leaders distance themselves from Trump. Musk had already said he planned to curtail his political spending, and on Tuesday he called for "all politicians who betrayed the American people" to be fired next year. His involvement with the Trump administration has provoked widespread protests at Tesla sites, driving down sales while investors fretted that Musk's attention was too divided.
