Musk and Trump have a very online breakup, complete with threats, insults
The growing divide between Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump has become a canyon.
On Thursday, the president and his so-called 'First Buddy' traded barbs in front of cameras and on social media, showcasing to the world their fractious working relationship and friendship.
Two days after Musk called Trump's big tax break bill a 'disgusting abomination,' the president fired back, saying he is 'very disappointed' with the billionaire.
The president, answering questions in the Oval Office Thursday, escalated the feud with his former special government employee, saying he's 'very surprised' at Musk's repeated attacks on his centrepiece budget bill.
'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore,' Trump told reporters Thursday.
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'He hasn't said bad [sic] about me personally, but I'm sure that will be next,' Trump continued. 'But I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot.'
Trump continued, adding that a lot of people who leave his administration 'miss it so badly' and 'actually become hostile.'
'It's sort of Trump derangement syndrome, I guess they call it,' he said.
'I'll be honest, I think he missed the place. He got out there, and all of a sudden he wasn't in this beautiful Oval Office,' he continued.
Trump suggest that Elon has "Trump derangement syndrome" pic.twitter.com/2vWB1MAkBE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 5, 2025
He also took the opportunity, as he so often does with his critics, to dunk on Musk's appearance — namely the black eye the Tesla CEO was seen sporting on his final day in the White House.
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'I said, 'Do you want a little makeup? We'll get you a little makeup.' Which is interesting,' Trump said.
'Whatever,' Musk wrote on X, his social media platform, while responding to Trump in real time.
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.…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
The billionaire, who once claimed he loved Trump 'as much as a straight man could love another man,' offered up several more stinging retorts to Trump — a man notoriously fixated on his image and support among voters.
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'Without me, Trump would have lost the election,' Musk wrote. 'Such ingratitude,' he said in a follow-up post, seemingly referring to the more than US$250 million in personal money he ponied up to back the Trump campaign last fall — cash that many believe helped Trump win his second term.
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Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
Trump then hit back with his own post on his own social media platform, Truth Social, saying that Musk was 'wearing thin' and that he asked the billionaire to leave his contract government position.
'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 shared.
@realDonaldTrump / Truth Social
'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' he continued in a separate post, moments later, threatening to cut Musk's government contracts.
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@realDonaldTrump / Truth Social
In turn, Musk responded, saying his company, SpaceX, would 'begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.'
In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately pic.twitter.com/NG9sijjkgW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
Dragon spacecraft are used to ferry crews and supplies to the International Space Station, alongside NASA shuttles.
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In March, a Dragon spacecraft was involved in the return to Earth of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stranded at the ISS for over nine months due to issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
Trump publicly asked Musk for help in returning the astronauts after numerous delays under the Biden administration. SpaceX ultimately had to cycle through multiple spacecraft to try and speed up the mission.
The Republican president's comments come after Musk has stewed for days on social media about Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' warning that it will increase the federal deficit.
It was just last week that Musk wrapped up his stint as a special government employee in the Trump administration, where he was tasked with uncovering and slashing government waste with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
View image in full screen
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. Evan Vucci / The Associated Press
His comments echo ones made days before departing his post, when he told CBS he was 'disappointed' by Trump's so-called 'big, beautiful' bill, saying it 'undermines' the work he put into helping cut government spending.
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He described the legislation, which includes a mix of tax cuts and enhanced immigration enforcement, as a 'massive spending bill' that will ultimately increase the federal deficit.
'I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,' Musk said. 'But I don't know if it could be both.'
1:54
Trump says he's not happy with certain parts of 'big, beautiful' tax bill after Elon Musk criticism
On Wednesday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shared analysis that estimates the package, titled the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' would cut taxes by US$3.75 trillion but also increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.
The CBO also estimates an increase of 10.9 million people without health insurance under the bill by 2034, including 1.4 million who are in the country without legal status in state-funded programs.
The package would reduce federal outlays, or spending, by nearly $1.3 trillion over that period, the budget office said.
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The legislation — which still needs to pass the Senate — would extend Trump's signature 2017 tax cuts, boost border security spending, impose work requirements on Medicaid and roll back clean energy tax credits.
— With files from The Associated Press
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Global News
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Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the US, charged with transporting people in the country illegally
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Abrego Garcia's return comes days after the Trump administration complied with a court order to return a Guatemalan man deported to Mexico despite his fears of being harmed there. The man, identified in court papers as O.C.G, was the first person known to have been returned to U.S. custody after deportation since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Vance says Musk making ‘huge mistake' going after Trump but downplays 'emotional' attacks
U.S. Vice-President JD Vance said Elon Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after President Donald Trump in a storm of bitter and inflammatory social media posts after a falling out between the two men. But the vice-president, in an interview released Friday after the very public blow up between the world's richest man and arguably the world's most powerful, also tried to downplay Musk's blistering attacks as an 'emotional guy' who got frustrated. 'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear,' Vance said. Vance's comments come as other Republicans in recent days have urged the two men, who months ago were close allies spending significant time together, to mend fences. Musk's torrent of social media posts attacking Trump came as the president portrayed him as disgruntled and 'CRAZY' and threatened to cut the government contracts held by his businesses. Story continues below advertisement 2:13 Business Matters: Trump vs. Musk feud sends Tesla stock tumbling Musk, who runs electric vehicle maker Tesla, internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX, lambasted Trump's centerpiece tax cuts and spending bill but also suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. 'Look, it happens to everybody,' Vance said in the interview. 'I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours.' Vance made the comments in an interview with ' manosphere' comedian Theo Von, who last month joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the U.S. Navy when he opened for Trump at a military base in Qatar. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The vice-president told Von that as Musk for days was calling on social media for Congress to kill Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' the president was 'getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were unfair coming from Elon, but I think has been very restrained because the president doesn't think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk.' Story continues below advertisement 'I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine,' he added. Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein. 2:52 Musk says Trump 'is in the Epstein files' amid escalating feud The interview was taped Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns. During the interview, Von showed the vice-president Musk's claim that Trump's administration hasn't released all the records related to sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them. Vance responded to that, saying, 'Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.' 'This stuff is just not helpful,' Vance said in response to another post shared by Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance. Story continues below advertisement 'It's totally insane. The president is doing a good job.' Vance called Musk an 'incredible entrepreneur,' and said that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was 'really good.' 3:07 Trump-Musk feud doesn't surprise Americans: '2 rich men with 2 big egos' The vice-president also defended the bill that has drawn Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term. The bill would slash spending but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination.' Story continues below advertisement 'It's a good bill,' Vance said. 'It's not a perfect bill.' He also said it was ridiculous for some House Republicans who voted for the bill but later found parts objectional to claim they hadn't had time to read it. Vance said the text had been available for weeks and said, 'the idea that people haven't had an opportunity to actually read it is ridiculous.' Elsewhere in the interview, Vance laughed as Von cracked jokes about famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass' sexuality. 'We're gonna talk to the Smithsonian about putting up an exhibit on that,' Vance joked. 'And Theo Von, you can be the narrator for this new understanding of the history of Frederick Douglass.' The podcaster also asked the vice president if he 'got high' on election night to celebrate Trump's victory. Story continues below advertisement Vance laughed and joked that he wouldn't admit it if he did. 'I did not get high,' he then said. 'I did have a fair amount to drink that night.' The interview was taped in Nashville at a restaurant owned by musician Kid Rock, a Trump ally.
