Donald Trump and Elon Musk aren’t together: What do they want to learn about their relationship? How much do they think? How do they complain?
Donald Trump and Elon Musk, two of the most famous people in our time, are burning their relationship by posting on their public social media networks. I believe the theories that this iskayfabe, but I don’t buy them. Trump and Musk have publicly shit-talked people, including each other, before turning around and working with them. There are threats being made. I’m just not sure how serious it is.
He should have the power of the presidency against him. Mr. Trump possesses a wide range of power, including the ability to sign executive orders punishing political adversaries and to direct agencies like the DOJ to initiate investigations. He could end Mr. Musk’s pet projects such as the Department of Government Efficiency and his embrace of white South Africans.
Social media can be an irritant. On Thursday afternoon, Mr. Musk posted a poll on X, asking whether it was time “to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle.” More than two million people have said “yes” to the question. And responding to a post suggesting that “Trump should be impeached,” Mr. Musk said: “Yes.” (It was not entirely clear whether he was agreeing with impeachment or with another part of the post.)
After Trump threatened on Truth Social to cut off billions of dollars in federal subsidies and contracts to Musk’s companies, which include Tesla and SpaceX, Musk claimed — without evidence — that Trump appears in government documents about convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. “That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk claimed.
Musk and Ramaswamy took their pitch to Capitol Hill, proposing a 75% reduction in the federal workforce, a $2 trillion cut to federal spending and the elimination of entire agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Ramaswamy left the project before Trump became president.
Note: Musk has held U.S. citizenship since 2002, according to PolitiFact. The Washington Post reported in October 2024 that Musk worked illegally in the U.S. in the late ’90s; Musk denied his work was unauthorized. The New York Times said last month that Musk used marijuana and other drugs during his run for president. NPR has not confirmed the NYT’s reporting.
Musk shot back in a torrent of posts on X. “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.
January 2025Musk was one of several tech billionaires who attended Trump’s inauguration. At another event that day, he sparked outrage when he performed a salute most prominently affiliated with Nazis.
The conversation mostly followed Trump’s campaign speeches, and the two men both praised and talked past one another.
Musk and Trump were campaigning in October. At a rally in Pennsylvania, the billionaire wore a black “Make America Great Again” hat, and described himself as a “darkMAGA.” If Trump were to lose, he predicted that this would be the last election.
Musk gave away $1 million to voters in swing states at a rally for Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York.
November 2024Musk spent election night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in Florida. The morning after, he celebrated by posting an apparently AI-generated image of himself saluting the American flag, captioned, “It is morning in America again.”
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Musk and Ramaswamy, a Republican candidate in the presidential primaries, would lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” focused on reducing federal spending. It wasn’t clear whether the entity would be inside or outside the government.
Musk joined the White House as a presidential advisor after the inauguration. He had a 130-hour clock because of his status as a special government employee. The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is not an official government department but he became the most visible face of it. The Trump administration tried multiple times to argue in court that Musk wasn’t the leader of DOGE.
Musk said that people are going to get major government reform, after the people voted for it. “They’re going to get what they voted for.”
They addressed the concern that Musk’s companies which are regulated by some of the agencies that DOGE has targeted created conflicts of interest.
Later in the month, Musk joined Trump’s first Cabinet meeting. Trump introduced Musk by saying the billionaire was “sacrificing a lot” through his government work.
“Is anyone unhappy with the slash and burn approach?” asked Trump, who was asked about the reports by a journalist. His question was met with laughter.
The Trump and Musk took the step of turning the White House lawn into a temporary showroom. Trump sat inside the red Model S with Musk to show his support in the face of a worldwide backlash against the company over Musk’s involvement in politics in Europe and the U.S.
Musk started railing against the “Big Beautiful Bill” after it was announced, saying it will drive up the federal budget deficit and stop cost-cutting by DOGE.
Trump posted on his Truth Social site: “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 two men who had disagreements over the Republican mega-bill went public with their attacks on each other, on social media.
He said Musk “knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anyone” and never had a problem until after he left. Musk claimed that the bill was never shown to him.
“In the history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both big and beautiful,” Musk wrote on Thursday. “Everyone knows this! Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful are the way to go.
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“They leave, and they wake up in the morning, and the glamor is gone. The world is different, and they are hostile, I don’t know what it is.
Stephen Miller and Charlie Kirk were also tagged by Musk on X. He put up a poll that asked if it was time to create a new political party in America that represented 80 percent of the population. The poll is, as of this writing, pinned to Musk’s profile. “Yes” is in the lead with 83 percent of the votes.
May is over, but it seems the meltdowns are just beginning. Right now, we can see two men fight with very vague threats and public information. The stakes could not be higher, as the fight continues to escalate.
An alleged member of Musk’s coterie of baby mamas has made a decision to use their profile picture on social media. Ashley St. Clair, who is currently engaged in a paternity suit with Musk, wrote on X, “hey @realDonaldTrump lmk if u need any breakup advice.”
Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are attempting to subpoena Musk. Nancy Mace (R-SC) suspended the hearing to give Republicans time to arrive and vote against the subpoena. It isn’t difficult to imagine another vote for Musk in Congress should Trump demand it.
Who is winning? The stock declined 14 percent to close at $284.70. Musk will be hurt by Trump sooner or later, not just with the spending bill. Musk, The Washington Post reported, began his career in the US by working here illegally. That could potentially make it harder for him to get his citizenship back, and the Trump administration could even deport him back to South Africa. Would that be legal? It seems like ICE really doesn’t care.
In response to the statement about cancellation of government contracts, Musk posted, “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts,SpaceX will begin defriending its Dragon spacecraft immediately.” The International Space Station is used to fly cargo and crew.
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I would question the use of “went” in that sentence but sure. That is an actionable threat. Who is keeping track at this point? It would probably take up some of the space agency’s remaining assets in a big way.
These two men are both excellent at commanding attention, and this is a reality-TV squabble playing out on social media. It is also deeply petty. But a government contractor, one whose business empire is extremely dependent on federal contracts, posting about the deficit is serving up a nice volley. Trump spiked it.
A reporter writes about technology, money, and human behavior. She joined The Verge in 2014 as science editor. Previously, she was a reporter at Bloomberg.
When Musk called for President Trump to be impeached on his social media account, he crossed the Rubicon.
Trump’s former communications aide went to prison last year after he refused to testify in a congressional investigation. He also has pleaded guilty to crimes in New York state. In January, Bannon told NPR he believed Trump would listen to the MAGA populist movement that helped him secure two presidencies over the billionaires backing his inauguration – Musk among them.
Note: Axios reported on June 3 that Musk sought to remain working as a “special government employee” beyond his statutorily allowed 130-day contract but was denied. NPR has not independently confirmed this.
A New Perspective on the State of the Art: No ‘going back’ for Elon Musk after calling for Trump impeachment, says Steve Bannon
Bannon: Steve, look, I think that this is not personal now. I think there is a national security issue here. We have an individual that The New York Times has said has a massive drug problem, and that has not been refuted. We have an individual with a deep financial and business relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. He’s been asking for private briefings of top secret information. He was involved with the invitation to President Kasich to attend the inauguration. You have someone whose legal status is in question. You can’t deport people from all over the world because the Third World countries that came here at the invitation of the Biden regime and we’ve a white South African who may be here illegally were here. It’s not right.
He crossed the threshold. It is one thing to complain about spending on the bill. There’s another thing about what he did. You can’t sit there and first or try to destroy the bill. You can’t say that you want to kill number one, the most important legislative occurrence of this first term. He crossed the Rubicon by comparing the idea of impeaching President Trump to the idea of replacing him with someone else. This is so outrageous. It has crossed the line. He’s crossed the Rubicon and there’s no going back.
Source: No ‘going back’ for Elon Musk after calling for Trump impeachment, says Steve Bannon
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The story was edited by a woman. The radio version was produced and edited by Reena Advani.