Jonathan Nwokpor
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What happens in a knock-down, drag-out confrontation between the wealthiest individual and the most influential politician?
The world is learning, and the picture is not good. Elon Musk and Donald Trump own two of the largest megaphones, which they have now used against one another as their argument has descended into a verbal spat.
Musk’s extensive economic contacts with the federal government, which are essential to his SpaceX venture, have been challenged by Trump.
“The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts,” Trump posted menacingly on his own social media website.
Musk will suffer if Trump manipulates the government apparatus against him. On Thursday, the price of Tesla’s stock fell 14%.
But it’s not a one-way street. Following that barrage, Musk challenged Trump to stop funding his businesses and demanded that he be impeached.
Additionally, Musk announced that he was speeding up the decommissioning of his Dragon spacecraft, which the US uses to transport supplies and humans to the ISS. Hours later, however, he seemed to back down from that threat, replying to a post on X that asked him to calm down: “Good advice. Alright, Dragon won’t be decommissioned.
Musk has almost infinite resources at his disposal to respond, including financing rebellious candidates to oppose Republicans in the primaries and elections of the next year. Additionally, he claimed late Thursday afternoon that he was dropping the “really big bomb”—that is, the idea that Trump is included in unpublished documents pertaining to late sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein—without providing any supporting proof.
Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, only provided a mild refutation of Musk’s claims and charges.
“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,” she said.
Trump is’very upset’ in Musk as the controversy erupts in public
The Trump-Musk conflict causes Tesla’s stock to plummet.
Musk might cost Trump and the Republicans dearly in both political and personal terms, even though he might not defeat the entire Trump administration.
Perhaps sensing this, Trump seemed to moderate the intensity by the conclusion of the day. At a White House event, he refrained from making any remarks against Musk and wrote on Truth Social that he didn’t mind “turning against him” but wished he had left the administration months earlier.
He then changed his focus to supporting his “big, beautiful” spending and tax bills.
But after Thursday’s heat, it’s hard to imagine a simple walk-down.
Threatening and insulting each other
In the Oval Office, the dispute began as a simmer last week, grew more intense on Wednesday, and reached a full-fledged boil on Thursday afternoon. The president sounded much like a rejected lover as he sat in uneasy silence with the day’s visitor, new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Musk’s criticism of his legislation surprised him, he said. He denied that without Musk’s hundreds of millions of dollars in backing, he would have lost the presidential race last year. He added that Musk was only changing his mind now because the Republican effort to eliminate electric vehicle tax subsidies will harm Tesla, his automaker.
Social Truth Trump threatens to terminate government contracts in a post on Truth Social.
With a very Generation X response for his 220 million followers, Musk swiftly posted on his social media platform, X: “Whatever”.
He claimed that the national debt was an existential threat to the country and that he didn’t care about the auto subsidies. He maintained that without his assistance, Democrats would have won the election last year. He said, “Such ingratitude,” to Trump.
The fight then began in earnest as the millionaire launched a string of stunning attacks throughout the day.
X Elon Musk writes in two posts on X that he isn’t thankful for X and that Trump would have lost the election without him.
The software mogul now holds a crucial position of budget-cutting authority in the Trump administration as a result of their strong but improbable relationship.
Musk’s Department of federal Efficiency, or Doge, shut down entire federal agencies and fired thousands of employees, making it one of the most prominent stories of Trump’s first 100 days in office.
But it wasn’t long, rumors started to circulate about when and how the two extreme personalities would finally clash.
For a time, those forecasts appeared to be incorrect. Musk’s popularity declined, he clashed with administration officials, and he lost numerous important elections earlier this year, but Trump remained loyal to Musk.
Musk would arrive in the Cabinet room, the Oval Office, or on the president’s Air Force One aircraft to Mar-a-Lago whenever it seemed like there would be a lull.
Last week, Musk’s 130-day tenure as a “special government employee” came to an end, and the two had a friendly farewell at the Oval Office, complete with a golden key to the White House and suggestions that Musk might return in the future.
It’s safe to assume that the locks have been changed and that any invitation has been withdrawn.
Trump’s use of the past tense in his statement on Thursday, “Elon and I had a great relationship,” was noteworthy.
Some believed that Trump’s unexpected announcement of a new travel restriction on Wednesday night, along with fresh sanctions on Harvard and an administration investigation of former President Joe Biden that was filled with conspiracy theories, were all attempts to divert attention away from Musk’s criticism. Following his earlier remarks, the White House and its congressional supporters appeared cautious about provoking him further.
Trump then made a statement, and he did a lot for it.
“A game with no winners”
What comes next in the debate is the question now. With Musk offering rhetorical and maybe financial cover for those who divide, congressional Republicans may find it more difficult to maintain support for Trump’s bill.
In addition to threatening Musk’s government contracts, Trump may target the administration’s surviving Doge friends or revive inquiries into Musk’s business activities that were started during the Biden administration.
Right now, everything is on the table.
Democrats, meanwhile, are watching from the sidelines, unsure of how to react. Musk was once a donor to their party, but few appear eager to accept him back. However, the proverb that goes, “The enemy of an enemy is a friend,” also applies.
“It’s a zero-sum game,” Liam Kerr, a Democratic strategist, told Politico. “Anything that he does that moves more toward Democrats hurts Republicans.”
Democrats, at the very least, appear content to watch while the two men spar. And until they give up this battle, the noise will probably overpower all other political voices in America.
However, this argument is unlikely to conclude anytime soon.
“Trump has 3.5 years left as president,” Musk wrote on X, “but I will be around for 40-plus years.”
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