The day Elon Musk became Donald Trump's chief opponent
Alliance or macho friendship, convergence of interests or mutual fascination: all of that is over. The unique relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk publicly imploded on Thursday, June 5, in a rare and violent war of words between two boundless egos, ending in threats. The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla was in the Oval Office just six days earlier, enjoying a kind of warm farewell gathering with the president. His official mission as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was coming to a close. His companies, with Tesla among those struggling, demanded his full attention. That day, Dond Trump praised Musk's work and sacrifice in rooting out alleged waste and fraud within federal agencies.
But already, Musk's criticism of the president's flagship piece of legislation, the "Big Beautiful Bill," was sharpening. This spending package, which includes massive tax cuts and new resources for immigration policy, barely passed the House of Representatives and now faces scrutiny in the Senate. Some Republicans have expressed reservations, citing concerns over the rising national debt, which is already nearing $37 trillion.
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Help us improve Le Monde in English Dear reader, We'd love to hear your thoughts on Le Monde in English! Take this quick survey to help us improve it for you. Take the survey The nation's court system has been ground zero for pushback to President Donald Trump's sweeping conservative agenda, with hundreds of lawsuits filed challenging policies on everything from immigration to education to mass layoffs of federal workers. In the other DOGE order handed down Friday, the justices extended a pause on orders that would require the team to publicly disclose information about its operations, as part of a lawsuit filed by a government watchdog group. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington argues that DOGE, which has been central to Trump's push to remake the government, is a federal agency and must be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Trump administration says DOGE is just a presidential advisory body aimed at government cost-cutting, which would make it exempt from requests for documents under FOIA. The justices did not decide that issue Friday, but the conservative majority held that US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled too broadly in ordering documents be turned over to CREW.
