The Trump and Musk spat is turning them both into billion-dollar losers in every way

Independent

9 hours ago

The boys are going at it. Like two heavies in the playground, the once richest man on Earth and one who thinks he is the most powerful are locked in a scrap. It's a bloke thing. Not long ago, the former bros used to spark off each other, rib each other while jointly belittling everyone else. Now the jocks, Elon Musk and Donald Trump, are grappling and so closely entwined were they and the organisations they lead, there can be no winner.
It's possible that peace may prevail, but for how long? They've repeatedly raised the ante, which in male lore means backing down and letting bygones be bygones will be difficult.
The fallout will hit them both. Trump says that Musk and his companies receive 'billions and billions of dollars' in government subsidies and contracts. He could cut them. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
One estimate puts the total that Musk's two main businesses, SpaceX and Tesla, receive in public benefits at $38bn (£28bn). SpaceX president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, has said its tally alone is $22bn. The exact combined figure may never be known because many of the deals between Musk's firms and Washington are classified.
For his part, Musk is the heaviest donor to the Republicans, giving $200m to the GOP. There was more. Musk said he would support Maga candidates in local primaries, to the tune of $10m a pop, against sitting Republicans, should they dare to oppose Trump.
Meanwhile, Musk's space rockets fly Nasa astronauts to the orbiting shuttle – without that service, the Americans would have to do the diplomatically unthinkable and seek the wholesale assistance of Russia and its Soyuz vehicles. It's likely the love-in was always destined to fail. Trump demands complete adulation, any dissenters are quickly shown the door. Musk, for all his admiration of the president, disagreed with him profoundly on a number of key issues.
In order for his companies to stay ahead and to keep reinventing and innovating, Musk must attract the best brains. Whatever Trump alleges, they do not all exist in America, Musk needs to draw talent from overseas. That ran up against Trump's anti-immigration policy. Musk is a renewable energy evangelist, he made his name with the high-performance Tesla electric car. Trump is anything but, clinging to the belief that fossil fuels still rule and have a future.
Likewise, Musk's products rely on imported parts and materials. Trump has kiboshed global supply lines and delivered large-scale uncertainty with his adherence to new tariffs.
Musk's position on these was well known. He said so, and Trump tolerated him. After all, he was doing the White House 's bidding on Doge, slashing perceived governmental waste. Trump was happy for him to take the rap, to be the fall guy or poster boy, depending on how it was viewed. Musk's Maga popularity may have soared, but among his investors and consumers, it plummeted.
Both men are characterised by a stubborn refusal to climb down and a belief in their own might. Musk pressed on, regardless. They also speak their minds, as they find, again, convinced of their own brilliance. There was so much that Trump was prepared to forgive, but it was when Musk openly criticised Trump's central tax bill that the gloves finally came off. It is a priority of Trump's second term, and the measure requires congressional Republican backing to get through. By hailing it a 'disgusting abomination', Musk was sowing doubt among possible GOP waverers, and that simply would not do. The new distance between them was noticed, and the rot set in. Musk was exiting the building.
The president exhibited his usual pettiness, so what sent Musk ballistic was when an ally had his nomination to run Nasa withdrawn. That pal, Jared Isaacman, came out and said he was a victim of revenge – his nomination was revoked on the very day that the 'first buddy' was saying his White House goodbyes.
Far from damping down the speculation as to why his appointment was suddenly off, Isaacman raised it. 'I mean, people can draw their own conclusions, but I think the directions people are going in seems to check out to me,' he said.
Isaacman was not any other candidate – the billionaire had been a close collaborator with Musk ever since he led the first chartered passenger flight on SpaceX in 2021. Musk, understandably, was riled. Now it was personal.
Since then, we've been treated to the spectacle of gladiatorial combat, albeit resorting to childish insults as weapons. But each man has plenty to lose. Trump is a brooder; he does not forget easily, and Musk may have overstepped a mark by alerting the world's media and social media to something that might or might not be contained in confidential files regarding Epstein and Trump. That may just prove unforgivable. Certainly, in the absence of an explanation, the accusation could return to haunt Trump.
There may be one. It could be trivial and of little consequence. Musk may merely have been having fun, being provocative, and he hasn't presented anything to substantiate the allegation. But until we know, we cannot be sure, and the gossip will continue. Meanwhile, Trump's longtime ally Steve Bannon suggested that the president 'should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act and seize SpaceX'. And the President himself was said to be planning on dispensing with all traces of Elon Musk, including the Tesla he bought at full price in March.
It's perverse that they should be reduced to this. But two large, bristling personalities, possessors of machismo in abundance, were probably always going to find sharing the same small classroom an enormous challenge. Despite deploying all the cynical disregarding and showboating they could muster, it was insurmountable and could come at an enormous cost.