How did the Donald Trump-Musk feud begin? Here is the blow-by-blow
Less than a week after lavishing praise on each other in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the world's richest man, fell out spectacularly and publicly.
In a war of words that escalated on Thursday, both men took to their own social media platform to attack the other.
Although many political analysts had predicted that their alliance would not last, the speed with which it imploded was nevertheless dramatic.
Just last Friday, Trump was celebrating Musk's work as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), overseeing the slashing of billions of dollars in federal spending.
The South Africa-born billionaire had decided to step away from his work with the US government to focus on his businesses, which have suffered as a result of his foray into politics.
Speaking at his send-off at the White House last Friday, the US president called Musk 'one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced'.
'He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation and we appreciate it,' Trump said.
'Just want to say that Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations,' he added.
In reply, Musk, who was presented with a golden key featuring the White House insignia, said he would continue to visit Trump as 'a friend and adviser'.
Looking around the room at Trump's new golden decorations, the entrepreneur said: 'The Oval Office finally has the majesty that it deserves thanks to the president.'
But the sheen of their formerly close relationship has now fully disappeared.
After the billionaires' friendship soured this week and their dispute became deeper, questions have been raised about the damage that two of the world's most powerful men could potentially do to one another.
While Musk can withhold tens of millions of dollars in promised campaign donations, Trump has threatened to cut billions in government contracts and subsidies to Musk's companies.
The public rift between the two men started to open up on Tuesday, when Musk took to X to criticise Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'.
The bill, which narrowly passed the House of Representatives last month but faces challenges in the Senate, includes large tax cuts and the raising of the national debt ceiling.
Musk, who says the bill undermines all the savings made by DOGE, started to forcefully condemn it this week.
The bill is 'massive, outrageous, pork-filled' and a 'disgusting abomination', Musk said.
The Tesla CEO also lambasted House Republicans for voting for what he calls the 'big ugly bill', which he claims will increase the US deficit to $2.5 trillion (€2.19 trillion).
Despite the strength of Musk's language, it wasn't until Thursday that the feud between him and Trump fully escalated.
On Thursday morning, Musk reposted some old Trump social media posts, including one in which the now US president said that 'no member of Congress should be eligible for reelection' unless the country's budget was balanced.
'I couldn't agree more,' Musk wrote, in direct criticism of Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill.
At around midday on Thursday, Trump responded in the Oval Office during a visit from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Trump said he was 'very disappointed' by Musk, before expressing doubts about whether their 'great relationship' would continue.
The dispute then became more personal, with Musk, who gave the Trump campaign hundreds of millions of dollars last year, saying that the US president would not be in the White House without him.
'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' Musk wrote on X.
'Such ingratitude,' he concluded.
Things came to a head later on Thursday afternoon.
'The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon's governmental subsidies and contracts,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' he added.
Musk retaliated by claiming that Trump's name appears in the files of the paedophile and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, alleging that this was the 'real reason they have not been made public'.
The White House said on Thursday evening that Musk's Epstein claim was an 'unfortunate episode'.
The Trump administration has suggested the tech billionaire's criticism of the landmark bill stems from his disappointment that it does not contain policies favourable to him, something Musk has denied.
By Thursday evening, it appeared that Musk was open to de-escalating the situation.
After Bill Ackman, a Trump ally and hedge-fund billionaire, wrote that the two men 'should make peace for the benefit of our great country', Musk replied that he was 'not wrong'.
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