From 'disgusting abomination' to 'went too far': A look at Trump and Musk's social media feud
Live Events
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he regretted some of the posts he made about U.S. President Donald Trump as they had gone "too far," in early signs that a social media blusterbetween the world's most powerful man and its richest was cooling.Here's how it happened:- JUNE 3: Musk attacks Trump's top legislative priority: a sweeping tax-cut and spending bill."I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," he wrote on his X platform.- JUNE 5, around noon ET: Trump says he anticipates Musk criticizing him personally."Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," Trump said in the Oval Office. "He said the most beautiful things about me, and he hasn't said bad about me personally, but I'm sure that'll be next. But I'm, I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot."- JUNE 5, 12.10pm ET:Musk posts on X: "Slim Beautiful Bill for the win."- JUNE 5, 12.25pm ET:Musk responds to a clip of Trump from the Oval Office saying Musk knew the inner workings of the bill."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!" Musk wrote on X.- JUNE 5, 1.57pm ET:Musk launches a poll on X with the question: "Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?"- JUNE 5, 2.37pm ET:Trump hits back on his social media platform, Truth Social "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!""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!"- JUNE 5, 4.06pm ET:Trump defends the spending bill and takes a swipe at Musk:"I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress," Trump wrote on Truth Social.- JUNE 5, 4.09pm ET:Musk posts on X in response to Trump's comments about government contracts:"In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately."- JUNE 5, 4.11pm ET:Musk writes "yes" on X in response to another user posting: "President vs Elon. Who wins? My money's on Elon. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him."- JUNE 5, 4.26pm ET:Musk writes: "The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year."-JUNE 5, 23:29 ETTrump tells Politico, "Oh it's okay," and, "It's going very well, never done better," when asked about his public breakup with Musk, the news outlet reported.White House aides have scheduled a call on Friday with Musk to broker peace, Politico reported.- JUNE 6, 08:12 ETTrump is not interested in talking to Musk, a White House source with knowledge of the matter says on Friday.- JUNE 6, 18:23 ETWhen asked whether he would consider cutting government contracts held by Musk, Trump says would look at everything.- JUNE 7, 12:37 ETTrump, in a telephone interview with NBC News, says his relationship with Musk is over and warned there would be "serious consequences" if Musk funds U.S. Democrats."No," Trump tells NBC when asked if he had any desire to repair his relationship with Musk."I have no intention of speaking to him," Trump says.- JUNE 9, 15:31 ETTrump says he has no plans to discontinue Starlink at the White House but might move his Tesla off-site-JUNE 11, 03:05 ETMusk says he regrets some of the posts he made last week about Trump, in a post on X.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Trump Warns Israel Strike On Iran "Could Very Well Happen"
US President Donald Trump has said that Israel may be preparing to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, suggesting the possibility of military action during a press briefing at the White House on Thursday. "I don't want to say it's imminent, but it looks like something that could very well happen," Trump told reporters when asked whether Israel would launch an attack on Iran. The president emphasised that the conflict could still be avoided if Tehran agrees to further concessions in ongoing negotiations with Washington. His comments follow reports that Israel is considering preemptive operations to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. "Look, it's very simple. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. "Other than that, I want them to be successful. I want them to be tremendous. We'll help them succeed, we'll trade with them, we'll do whatever is necessary." Trump reaffirmed his preference for a diplomatic resolution, noting that his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is actively working to broker a deal. "I'd much prefer an agreement," he said. "If I think there's a chance at a deal, I don't want [Israel] going in-because I think it could ruin it. It might even help it, but it could also blow it." Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran would not abandon its right to enrich uranium, despite rising tensions. The official also claimed that a "friendly" country had warned Iran of a potential Israeli military strike.
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
"Anything We Can Do, We Will Do": Trump On Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Washington DC: US President Donald Trump spoke about the tragic plane crash in India on Thursday, offering any support the United States can provide as investigations are under way to ascertain what the reasons were that led to the incident. "It was a horrible accident. Anything we can do, we will do," President Trump said at a press conference in Washington DC. An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 people crashed immediately after take-off from Ahmedabad airport this afternoon, in one of the worst-ever aviation tragedies in history. There were 232 passengers and 10 crew on the flight which was headed to London. 'LOOKED LIKE THE ENGINES MAYBE LOST POWER' "The plane crash was terrible. I've already told them that anything we can do, we will do (to help). India is a big country, a strong country, and they will handle it, I'm sure, but I let them know that anything the US can do, we'll be over immediately," President Trump said. "It was a horrific crash, and it looks like most are gone. We're hearing that there may be a couple of survivors. The crash was horrible and nobody knows what exactly happened. I gave them a couple of pointers, saying, 'maybe you'd want to look at this'. We saw the plane - it looked like it was flying pretty didn't look that there was any explosion (on board). Just looked like the engines maybe lost power, but boy, that was a terrible crash - looks like the worst in aviation history," he added. WORRY MOUNTS FOR BOEING Today's plane crash adds to American aviation company Boeing's concerns, since it is already facing global challenges following a series of safety and production challenges. Its new CEO has been trying to rebuild trust since he took over, but today's Dreamliner 787-8 crash, and the manner in which it went down has left Boeing without answers. For the time being, there is no clarity on what may have caused the crash. Air disasters can occur for a number of different reasons, and only an investigation will reveal what happened on the Ahmedabad-London flight. Boeing's stock price went down about 4.9 per cent shortly after the Dreamliner crash on Thursday. In a statement later in the day, Boeing said it was aware of the initial reports about the crash and was working to gather more information. Shares of Spirit AeroSystems, a key supplier, and GE Aerospace, which makes engines for the jet, also fell about 2 per cent each. According to news agency Reuters, the wide-body 787 planes, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service, have never had a fatal crash until the Air India incident. They were grounded in 2013 due to battery issues, but no one was reported injured. Boeing's narrow-body 737 MAX jets, however, were grounded for years following two fatal crashes and have faced years of scrutiny and production delays. Last year, the American planemaker came under renewed scrutiny after a door plug blew off a 737 MAX 9 mid-flight, prompting a temporary grounding by US' aviation body and fresh concerns over quality control.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Elon Musk's net worth sees massive increase of $191 million and it was sparked by just one sentence
Tech mogul Elon Musk's net worth saw a massive increase of $191 million, reaching $411.4 billion, shortly after he publicly expressed regret for his critical social media posts directed at President Donald Trump. This could be seen as a sign of recovering investor sentiment following his public apology over controversial tweets about Trump. In a post on Wednesday morning on X (formerly Twitter), Musk wrote: 'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far." The remarks of Elon Musk came amid escalating tensions and a political standoff between him and Trump over the 'big, beautiful bill'. The rift between Musk and Trump ignited when Musk openly criticised Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' outlining the annual spending of the US government. The disagreement escalated, with Musk posting a series of harsh comments about Trump, some of which he later deleted. ALSO READ: Bombshell report claims major US government website likely to be shut down after almost all staff fired Elon Musk's net worth sees jump The Tesla CEO and richest man in the world claimed that Trump, who he endorsed for president and to whom he gave hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions, was part of the files linked to Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, killed himself in prison in 2019. Live Events However, Musk quickly backtracked this week, apologising and saying his posts against 'went too far'. Musk's apology also came ahead of a major product launch for Tesla next week. Signs of reconciliation emerged as early as Saturday, when Elon Musk deleted several of his most controversial posts about Donald Trump. In what looked like a clear effort to de-escalate an intensifying feud, Musk removed tweets from Thursday morning that criticized Trump. Among the deleted posts were ones linking Trump to the Epstein files, calling for his impeachment, and suggesting that JD Vance should take his place as President. ALSO READ: Trump's $45 million birthday parade set for weather hell and not even 'Golden Dome' could save it After Elon Musk issued a public apology, Donald Trump acknowledged the gesture and expressed his appreciation. The markets reacted quickly—Musk's net worth rose to $411.4 billion, with a $191 million increase following the apology, according to Forbes' real-time billionaire tracker. Reports indicate that Musk called Trump on Monday, ahead of his public remarks on Wednesday. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed that President Trump had seen the message and was "appreciative of it." In an interview, Trump added, "I thought it was very nice that he did that." Trump calls Elon Musk 'a friend' Trump referred to Elon Musk as 'a friend of mine' Thursday — but added that his former 'first buddy' got 'strange' last week when they traded attacks. Trump spoke about Musk, the world's richest man and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, while signing legislation overriding California emissions rules that promote electric vehicles. ALSO READ: Kamala Harris vote dispute: Trump's 2024 election win is under lens. Will it overturn his presidency? 'I like Tesla,' Trump said during a riff on how would-be car buyers should have choices, moments before recounting his relationship with Musk. Musk was 'very honest' in his equivocal stance on EV mandates, said the president, who added that the former Department of Government Efficiency figure 'got a little bit strange … over much smaller things than that,' the president said. Musk lashed out at Trump after the president withdrew the nomination of Musk's personal friend Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.
