Trump Takes the Gloves Off and Shreds Elon Musk

Yahoo

2 days ago

Billionaire Elon Musk's bromance with president Donald Trump has officially exploded into an ugly, spite-fuelled, mud-slinging grudge match of epic proportions.
The feud, which has been simmering for months now, boiled over publicly this month after Musk excoriated Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" as a "disgusting abomination," and openly declared war on any Republican willing to support it.
In characteristically rambling remarks from the Oval Office on Thursday, the president tore into his former number one ally, cementing the bitter end of their relationship.
"Look, Elon and I had a great relationship," Trump said. "I don't know if we will anymore."
Meanwhile, Musk took to his social media platform to air even more of his own grievances.
"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.
"Such ingratitude," he added resentfully.
The president had some ideas as to why "Elon did a 180," as House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) put it in remarks to reporters on Wednesday.
"Elon's upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles," Trump said, referring to tax incentives that have greatly lowered the vehicle prices for consumers in the past. His bill is expected to roll back a suite of Biden-era policies that were designed to cut emissions and boost EV sales.
Now that Musk has dragged the brand of his EV maker Tesla through the mud, with sales plummeting, the bill could exacerbate the company's ongoing crisis.
"You know, they're having a hard time, the electric vehicles, and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidies, and Elon knew this from the beginning," Trump said.
Trump also pointed to his administration throwing Musk's personal pick, SpaceX space tourist and billionaire Jared Isaacman, under the bus, officially rescinding his nomination as NASA's next administrator.
Musk "recommended somebody that I guess he knew very well to run NASA, and I didn't think it was appropriate," Trump said.
Isaacman "happened to be a total Democrat," Trump added, seemingly trying to reframe the narrative to justify a move that has largely been seen as retribution against Musk.
"I can understand why [Musk] is upset," the president offered.
The rocky, on-and-off-again relationship flourished into a full-blown bromance throughout Trump's election campaign and first semester in office.
But the two enormous egos eventually proved far too big to fit into the same political sphere, with reports of shouting matches in the halls of the White House showing Musk's welcome in DC was wearing thin.
During his goodbye party in the White House last week, Musk showed up with a black eye and a weird explanation, triggering a flurry of speculation as to who could've thrown the punch.
"You saw a man who was very happy when he was behind the Oval Desk, and even with a black eye," Trump told reporters today. The president allegedly offered Musk some makeup to cover it up, to which the billionaire responded, "'I don't think so,' which is interesting."
That's despite Musk saying "wonderful things about me" at his goodbye party last week.
"I'l be honest, I think he misses the place," Trump claimed. "He's not the first. People leave my administration, and they love us, and then, at some point, they miss it so badly."
"And some of them actually become hostile," he added. "It's sort of Trump derangement syndrome."
More on the bromance: The Trump-Musk Bromance Has Exploded Into a Million Spite-Fueled Pieces