How did Elon Musk and President Trump go from allies to enemies? Full story inside.
Billionaire CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have erupted into a public spat. The president threatened to cut government contracts to Musk’s companies, and Musk fired back by agreeing that Trump should be impeached.
Not long ago, Elon Musk and Donald Trump were practically political besties. Musk backed Trump with around $300 million in the 2024 election and even took a position in the White House, leading a special “Department of Government Efficiency.”
They praised each other on camera, traveled together on Air Force One, and Musk was a regular onstage at Trump’s rallies. Their partnership was unusual, a billionaire tech mogul with major government contracts teaming up with a populist president and for a while, it worked.
The relationship started to crack when Trump introduced a major tax-and-spending bill that Musk hated. Musk called the plan fiscally reckless and warned it would add trillions to the already enormous $36.2 trillion U.S. debt. While Trump kept quiet at first, Musk took his fight to X (formerly Twitter), urging Congress to kill the bill.
Then came the tipping point: Musk quit his White House role and escalated his campaign against the legislation, calling it “disgusting pork” and a “disaster” waiting to happen.” For Trump, that was the final straw.
In a Thursday Oval Office briefing, Trump went public. He said he was “very disappointed” in Musk and hinted their friendship was likely over.
But he didn’t stop there. On Truth Social, Trump posted:
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”
That was huge. Musk’s companies — Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink — rely on billions in federal contracts. And Wall Street reacted fast.
Tesla stock plunged 14.3% by day’s end, wiping out about $150 billion in value —the biggest one-day drop in the company’s history.
Musk fired back just minutes later, replying “Yes” to a post suggesting Trump should be impeached.
(Impeachment is extremely unlikely — Republicans control Congress — but it was a bold signal.)
He also tweeted:
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election. Such ingratitude.”
He even warned that Trump’s economic plans especially proposed tariffs on imports could push the U.S. into a recession.
Things nearly escalated further. In one X post, Musk suggested he might shut down SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which is currently the only U.S. spacecraft that carries astronauts to the International Space Station under a $5 billion NASA contract.
That would’ve been a shocking. Luckily, a few hours later, Musk calmed down and posted, “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
But the threat made one thing clear: the stakes aren’t just personal. They’re national — involving NASA, military space launches, and billions in federal projects.
There may be a cooldown coming. The two are expected to speak by phone, according to White House aides. Even major Republican donors and allies like investor Bill Ackman — are urging both sides to calm down.
But the damage is done. Their partnership, once seen as politically powerful and financially beneficial for both sides, is now in tatters.
• For Trump, losing Musk means potentially losing tech-world clout and donor money.
• For Musk, losing government support could mean tighter regulations and lost revenue especially from key NASA and Pentagon contracts (worth around $22 billion).
We’re watching two titans, one in politics, one in tech — fight it out in the most public way possible. What started as a surprising alliance has now morphed into a very expensive feud and with elections ahead and markets on the edge, this may just be the beginning.