Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Friendship Implodes: All the Insults They Have Exchanged So Far Today

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18 hours ago

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are feuding over the administration's "Big, Beautiful Bill" on social media
The pair have exchanged a number of insults towards one another
Musk claimed that Trump was "in the Epstein files," while Trump claimed that Musk was made aware of EV/Solar cuts that Musk later claimed he was never shownPresident Donald Trump and Elon Musk's feud continues to escalate as the pair lobbed insults at one another over social media today.
The origin of the back-and-forth lay in Musk's criticism of what the administration has called the "Big, Beautiful Bill," which has already passed the House of Representatives. During an interview with CBS Sunday Morning that aired on June 1, but was released earlier on May 27, Musk said he was "disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it," adding that it "undermines" the work the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was doing.
The bill is funding its tax cuts and military spending in part by cutting some federal health and energy programs. However, it is also poised to add an estimated $3.8 trillion to the national deficit, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
A day after portions of the CBS interview were released, Musk confirmed he was leaving DOGE. On May 30, Musk went to the Oval Office for an on-camera meeting with Trump.
The increasingly public feud between Musk, 53, and Trump, 78, reached a new level on Thursday, June 5, beginning when Musk shared a clip from his interview on Fox Business, in which he also criticized the "Big, Beautiful Bill." The two traded barbs on X and Truth Social throughout the day.
In the Fox Business clip, Musk says, "I can't believe I'm here doing this. It's kind of bizarre. But I kind of think that the...Yeah, we've got this enormous federal budget deficit. And it's a $2 trillion deficit. It keeps growing."
"Our interest payments, our higher than our defense department budget. That's, I think was the real wake up call for me was looking at seeing that the interest payments, the national debt exceeded the Defense Department budget. And that was only growing over time, which meant if we didn't do something about this, uh, then there won't be any money for anything."
"That's what it comes down to," Musk added on X.
The bill, should it pass the Senate and be signed into law, would introduce significant cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by implementing more requirements on possible beneficiaries.
Musk subsequently shared a Tweet from a user supporting his stance on the BBB, which read, "The majority of republican *voters* strongly agree with Elon and want the BBB trimmed down@elonmusk left the Democratic Party and sacrificed much in his relentlessly supported the GOP. The GOP leadership should give his counsel serious consideration."
Musk captioned the retweet with a simple "Yes."
Next, Musk reposted a tweet that Trump shared on Jan. 23, 2013. "I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling—I am a Republican & I am embarrassed!" Trump wrote at the time.
"Wise words," Musk added.
"Shockingly, the Democrat controlled CBO just announced that the Tariffs will be reducing the Deficit by at least $2.8 Trillion Dollars," Trump wrote on Truth Social in response."
"Too bad this information couldn't have been released earlier, it would have kept people from knowingly saying untruths," he continued, alleging that Musk was lying about the federal budget deficit.
"I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago," Trump wrote in another Truth Social post during the day. "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. If this Bill doesn't pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn't create this mess, I'm just here to FIX IT. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Musk retweeted another tweet Trump previously shared on July 31, 2012, which read, "No member of Congress should be eligible for re-election if our country's budget is not balanced---deficits not allowed!"
Musk captioned the retweet, "I couldn't agree more!" followed by two American flag emojis.
Musk also reposted a tweet that read, "DOGE: Democrats are calling Trump's decision to end federal funding for California's high-speed rail project 'heartless'. With just 35 years left to complete the project was 'so close' to completion you could almost imagine your grandchildren riding the rails. The good news is that they won't have anything to tear down."
"Sensible move by President @realDonaldTrump," Musk added.
"Slim Beautiful Bill for the win," Musk wrote in one tweet, followed by another in the same thread that read, "Keep the good, remove the bad."
During Trump's meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the president claimed Musk was aware of cuts to EV and solar power incentives, which will impact his electric vehicle and clean energy company, Tesla.
"Elon is upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles," Trump said. "They're having a hard time the electric vehicles, and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy. Elon knew this from the beginning."
Musk reposted a clip of Trump's claim, writing, "Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.""In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both big and beautiful," he continued. "Everyone knows this! Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way."
"I'm very disappointed with Elon. I've helped him a lot," Trump said Thursday. "He knew the inner workings of the bill better than anybody sitting here. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem and he only developed the problem when he found out we're going to cut EV mandate."
Musk posted the clip, alleging, "False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!"
Later, Musk reposted a clip of Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee stating his support for making changes to the "Big, Beautiful Bill."
"I'm all in for more cuts to the bill. It's big, but it's not beautiful yet," Ogles, who voted for the bill, said. "The Senate's job is to make the bill better before sending it back to us. The House's job is to pass DOGE rescissions and EO codification bills that are collecting dust. Not to go home." Musk captioned the repost with an American flag emoji.
Musk reposted another X user's collage of old Trump tweets expressing contrary financial viewpoints to those of the bill. "Where is this guy today??" Musk captioned the repost.
"Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," Musk claimed in another tweet.
After several retweets of support for himself, Musk returned to criticizing Trump by sharing a video from March 11, the day Trump and Musk showed off Tesla cars on the White House lawn.
"What about Elon? Did he call? He never even mentioned it to he never complained until this moment. I'm just bringing it up. Who would do that?" Trump said.
Trump continued to claim, "He has never asked me for a thing, and he's built this great company, and he shouldn't be penalized because he's a patriot. He's an incredible patriot. And I don't even know if he's a Republican," to which Musk is seen laughing while holding one of his children's hands.
"Remember this? @realDonaldTrump," Musk wrote in the repost.
"Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump wrote on a Truth Social post.
In another Truth Social post, Trump threatened to cut billions in federal subsidies and tax cuts for Musk's companies.
'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' the president wrote, per the New York Times. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!'
Musk shared a screenshot of this message, adding, "In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately."
"This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days," an X user replied, prompting Musk to write, "Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon."
"Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" Musk claimed in another tweet.
Trump's name has previously been publicly linked with Jeffrey Epstein. His name was mentioned in flight logs released earlier this year by Attorney General Pam Bondi a total of seven times. The appearance of Trump's name in the flight logs does not immediately implicate him, however — Trump was friends with the disgraced financier and pedophile for decades until the mid-2000s and many of the individuals named could have been on Epstein's plane for legitimate reasons.
A Justice Department spokesperson had no immediate comment on calls to release more Epstein-related files when the New York Times asked about Musk's claim.
In another of his tweets Thursday, Musk predicted, "The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year."
Read the original article on People