There's a whole lot of history between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
For starters, the 53-year-old Tesla CEO is understood to have dropped a whopping $300m on support for the 78-year-old Republican president, specifically on his re-election campaign against Democratic leader Kamala Harris.
Musk, whose Tesla cars have been heavily endorsed by Trump, was also made the non-Senate-confirmed head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and it once seemed like you couldn't go a few days without either of the men praising each other on their respective social media accounts.
And now, in the latest update of the saga, Trump has sparked some pretty major concern after people noticed that he's now stopped doing one thing amid his alleged 'break up' with the tech billionaire.
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Now, according to an analysis by Politico, Trump was posting about Musk - who was once dubbed 'President Musk' over his involvement in Trump's administration - an average of four times per week in February and March on Truth Social.
This was around the time when Musk and the DOGE led the firing of employees and shuttering of federal departments.
However, the outlet states, the president hasn’t mentioned Musk once since the start of April.
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And it would appear as if such treatment has been echoed by Musk as, until early April, he posted about Trump on his X account almost every day but posts where Trump is mentioned have since notably dwindled.
Polling suggests Musk has proven unpopular with the public and he's since stepped back from front-line politics.
Before doing so, however, he faced a fair bit of ridicule over the outcome of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race last month.
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"He’s finished, done, gone. He polls terribly. People hate him," an anonymous GOP operative told Politico. "He’d go to Wisconsin thinking he can buy people’s votes, wear the cheese hat, act like a nine-year-old.
"It doesn’t work. It’s offensive to people."
Politico also notes that the official White House account and some of Trump’s senior advisers have also stopped mentioning Musk on social media.
Just last month, Trump was alleged to have told cabinet members that his billionaire compadre was to be removed from his position in the 'coming weeks'. Musk later responded by branding the speculation 'fake news.'
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This week, though, in a shock twist, Musk has now hinted that trouble might very well be on the horizon, by vowing to decrease the amount of money he plies into right-wing politics for the time being.
Speaking to Bloomberg via video interview at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday (20 May), the father-of-13 was asked about his immediate professional plans, to which he coolly replied: "I think, in terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future."
Journalist Mishal Husain then prompted Musk, asking him: "And why is that?"
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Musk then responded with a straight face and a simple five-word statement: "I think I've done enough."
Later, the reporter in question asked whether his financial decision had been swayed by political tensions, after which Musk evaded the subject.
"If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason," he added.
The surprise remark hasn't gone unnoticed by millions of spectators, many of whom shared footage of Musk's interview and interpreted it as confirmation of his and Trump's rumoured estrangement.
One wrote online: "Oh this breakup is worse than we expected. Good."
"Some see breakup, some others see lessons taken," another added.
A third jibed of their allegedly fragmented relationship: "Trump destroys everything he touches. But this particular one, I don't mind at all."
"He looks different, he's in a bad and dark state right now it seems. Did Trump abandon him too?" questioned another.
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Elon Musk, US News, Social Media, Celebrity
Rhiannon Ingle