Mutual threats and insults
The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump began on a low note last week, but escalated on Wednesday, reaching a boiling point on Thursday afternoon in the Oval Office during a visit by Germany's new Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who sat in complete silence, embarrassed.
Trump expressed surprise at Musk's criticism of his "huge, beautiful" tax and spending legislation. He dismissed the notion that he would have lost last year's presidential election without Musk's hundreds of millions of dollars in support. He said Musk was only changing his position now because his car company, Tesla, would be harmed by Republican efforts to end tax breaks for electric vehicles.
Musk used his X account to respond in a manner appropriate to the platform's subscribers, addressing his 220 million followers: "It doesn't matter." He said he didn't care about auto subsidies, but rather wanted to reduce the national debt, which he said represented an existential threat to the country. He insisted that the Democrats would have won last year's election without his help. Addressing Trump, he said, "How ungrateful."
The tech billionaire launched a series of unusual attacks throughout the afternoon, and the dispute between them appeared to be serious.
Musk and Trump formed a powerful—if unlikely—alliance that culminated in the tech billionaire being given a key position in the Trump administration's budget-cutting authority. Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOG, became one of the biggest stories of Trump's first 100 days, shutting down entire agencies and laying off thousands of government employees.
However, it wasn't long before speculation began about when and how the feud between the two high-profile figures would end.
For a while, these predictions appeared to be wrong. Trump stood by Musk even as his popularity plummeted, he feuded with administration officials, and he became a liability in several key elections earlier this year.
Every time there seems to be a disagreement between them, Musk suddenly appears in the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, or on Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago.
When Musk's 130-day tenure as a special government employee ended last week, the two were given a friendly send-off in the Oval Office, with Musk handing him a golden key to the White House and hinting that Musk might one day return.
But now, it's safe to say the invitation has been canceled, and the locks have been changed.
"I had a great relationship with Elon," Trump said Thursday, a comment in the past tense.
Some believe that Trump's surprise announcement Wednesday night of a new travel ban, additional sanctions on Harvard University, and a conspiracy-filled administration investigation into former President Joe Biden were attempts to divert Musk's criticism.
The White House and its allies in Congress seemed keen not to further anger Musk after his previous statements, and then suddenly Trump spoke, and the conversation ended.