Elon Musk launched a blistering public attack on President Donald Trump on Thursday, marking a dramatic rupture in what had once been a powerful political alliance.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Musk declared: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude.”
The rift, months in the making, reached new heights following a clash over Trump’s proposed tax-and-spending legislation — dubbed the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” — a sweeping package projected to add trillions to the national debt over the next decade.
Musk, who reportedly spent nearly $300 million backing Trump’s 2024 reelection bid and GOP congressional campaigns, began an aggressive online campaign Wednesday to “Kill the Bill.”
In response, Trump suggested Musk’s opposition stemmed from the bill’s proposed rollback of electric vehicle (EV) tax credits — a move that would directly impact Tesla.
Musk, however, rejected that characterization. “Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill,” he wrote on X.
As Trump publicly downplayed the feud during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Musk intensified his attacks.
He resurfaced Trump’s past tweets criticizing deficit spending and questioned his consistency: “Where is this guy today?”
Musk also disputed Trump’s claim of insider knowledge about the bill’s content, writing: “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 fallout marks a sharp reversal in what had been a close political relationship.
Just last week, Trump hosted Musk in the Oval Office, hailing him as a “friend” and lauding his involvement with cryptocurrency, particularly Dogecoin.
Now, with Musk having stepped away from any formal advisory role, their alliance appears to be unraveling — publicly and spectacularly — with both men using their platforms to air grievances in real time.
