Everything Donald Trump and Elon Musk have said about each other during online argument
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been having an all-out shouting match online, with accusations being flung, left, right, and centre.
You might remember that the pair have been pretty close since Trump’s January inauguration, but over the course of a week, things have shifted.
Musk previously supported the US President's controversial campaigns, but now they appear to have turned on one another in recent weeks after Musk left the White House and returned to his electric-vehicle endeavour, Tesla.
Since then, it’s been very scathing.
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Take a look at everything the two have said to each other in this online war...
The beginning of the end
Last month, Musk announced that he'd resigned a few days early from his role of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-lead, posting on Twitter: "As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.
"The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."
The big, beautiful bill
However, just before he left his post, he began to make a number of pointed remarks about Trump's finances - specifically, criticising his 'big beautiful bill' he'd been previously backing, that would increase the deficit by $3.8 trillion by 2034.
"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," he told CBS last week. "I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion."
Musk once again aired his views, tweeting on 4 June: "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."
In response, Trump told attendees at the Oval Office on 5 June: "Look, you know, I've always liked Elon, and it's always very surprised you saw the words he had for me, the words and he hasn't said anything about me."
He added: "But I'm very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here."
Musk later responded: "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!"
The Epstein files
After their spat over the bill, Musk then decided to drop a ‘bomb’ on Trump, claiming on Twitter: "Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.
"Have a nice day, DJT!"
The Epstein files are documents, videos, and investigative materials related to Jeffrey Epstein's heinous crimes, which have had people wondering who else could have been involved in his horrid crimes against children and women.
While it is already known that Trump was named in the documents, no allegations have been made about his involvement in the crimes and his inclusion does not imply wrongdoing.
While Trump didn't address the accusation directly, he wrote on Truth Social about the truth of Musk’s departure of his DOGE position: "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!"
Sharing the post on X, Musk replied: "Such an obvious lie. So sad."
An argument over money
Continuing to ignore the claims made by Musk, Trump turned things back around to finances when he began to talk about his bill.
He said on Truth Social following Musk's bombshell: "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. It’s a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given.
"If this Bill doesn’t pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn’t create this mess, I’m just here to FIX IT.
"This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Age difference
Musk then seemed to hint at the number of years Trump has left in office, or in life when he suggested that his influence will last decades longer than the president’s when he wrote on Twitter: "Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as president, but I will be around for 40+ years…"
He then dragged House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate majority leader John Thune into the fray when he began to dig up a post written by Johnson in March 2023, where he criticised the Biden administration, saying federal spending and debt ‘is not sustainable!’
Musk wrote: "Where is the Mike Johnson of 2023!?"
He also hit out at Thune, specifically bringing up a piece the Senate leader wrote in 2011, titled ‘Balanced-budget amendment or bust’.
He then reposted a video of Thune speaking in 2020 in Congress, with the caption: "Where is the John Thune of 2020??"
The gloves are off
To all of this, Trump posted on Truth Social: "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!"
Musk then replied to a tweet which shared a screenshot of Trump’s message, stating: "Go ahead, make my day..."
He then wrote of Trump's post: "In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately".
Dragon is the spacecraft that has been taking Nasa astronauts to space, with plans to expand this venture.
He also claimed that President Trump should be impeached and replaced by Vice-President JD Vance, stating that Trump's global tariffs will ‘cause a recession in the second half of this year’ and called the tax bill a ‘big, ugly spending bill’.
The Tesla CEO then started a poll asking followers if it’s time to create a new political party ‘that actually represents the 80% in the middle’ and 81.9 per cent of users said ‘yes’.
Musk then unloaded on Trump, accusing him of ingratitude and claiming that he won the election for him.
He also went on to contradict his earlier post about decommissioning his spacecraft, claiming that he now ‘won’t decommission’ the Dragon spacecraft, used by NASA.
Regarding the serious allegations Musk made about Trump being on Epstein’s flight list, the BBC reached out to the FBI, who claimed that it did ‘not have a comment on it’.
The White House also responded Musk's allegation, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stating: "This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”
Topics: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Politics, Social Media, US News
Britt Jones