A complete guide to the Trump vs. Musk feud

In early June 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk's once-close relationship turned ugly as the two traded barbs on social media. Social media users, in turn, speculated about why the two were fighting.
The relationship between Musk and Trump, according to reporting from reputable news outlets, had been complicated for months, despite public amicability. Trump's team had become increasingly frustrated with Musk's erratic behavior and his slash-and-burn mentality as the public face of the Department of Government Efficiency, according to these reports.
Things appeared to begin falling apart publicly when Trump pulled the nomination of a Musk ally to lead NASA, citing past donations to Democrats, and Musk started attacking Trump's trade adviser and tariffs architect, Peter Navarro.
On June 3, Musk posted on X that he "just can't stand it anymore," and attacked Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, calling it a "disgusting abomination" and criticizing it for increasing the national debt. Trump, in response, said he was "very disappointed" with Musk and alleged the world's richest man was really angry about the bill's electric-vehicle tax-credit cuts, which would hurt Musk's car company, Tesla.
It's true that the bill would increase the national debt, and that Trump reversed his position on increasing the debt ceiling — the limit lawmakers set to how much money the government can borrow. It's also true that the bill would cut tax credits benefiting Tesla. Thus, it is likely that even if there is more going on than what is publicly known, the fight does, at least in part, have to do with Trump's budget bill.
U.S. President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, a former special government employee and Trump adviser, once presented themselves as the ultimate bromance in U.S. politics — but as their relationship crashed and burned in mid-2025, speculation and questions about what caused their very public breakup circulated online.
"Who else still doesn't understand why Elon Musk and Donald Trump are fighting?" wrote one confused X user.
The fight between Musk and Trump appeared to center around Musk's criticism of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, which Musk called a "disgusting abomination." Trump, on the other hand, lamented that he once "had" a great relationship with Musk and claimed Musk's anger was over cuts to electric-vehicle tax credits in the bill — credits that would have benefited Musk's car company, Tesla.
"I'll tell you, he's not the first," Trump said (at 1:13). "People leave my administration and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly. And some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile. I don't know what it is, it's sort of 'Trump derangement syndrome' I guess they call it."
Still, news outlets and late-night hosts speculated about the "real reasons" Musk was feuding with Trump. Some X users alleged Musk had simply pretended to support Trump to receive the EV subsidies. Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists argued that the fight was planned as a distraction or so Musk could sell cars to liberals and Trump could stop appearing beholden to the world's richest man.
Much of what we know about Trump and Musk's relationship comes from reporting based on anonymous sources inside the White House who fear losing their jobs, making it impossible to definitively determine based on public information if there was a "real" reason for the spat. In response to an inquiry, the White House ignored detailed questions asking for evidence of various claims and allegations made by Trump and Musk, instead providing a boilerplate statement that had been sent to Snopes previously.
"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," read the statement from Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary.
Below, we break down what has been reported, what Trump and Musk have said and what they appear to be fighting about:
Musk and Trump's close relationship publicly began when the SpaceX founder endorsed Trump for president on July 13, 2024, in an X post following an assassination attempt on the president in Pennsylvania. Musk poured nearly $300 million into Trump's campaign, and shortly after Trump won, he appointed Musk to head the Department of Government Efficiency, a new initiative dedicated to cutting government spending.
As Musk used a literal chain saw to promote his cuts to government agencies, outwardly, the two could not have been more agreeable to each other. However, reputable news outlets — citing anonymous sources in the White House — painted a more complicated story. In March, The New York Times reported cabinet officials were growing increasingly frustrated with the billionaire's "unchecked power," culminating in an explosive meeting over Musk's efforts to slash spending via mass layoffs of federal workers.
The meeting, the Times reported, "yielded the first significant indication that Mr. Trump is willing to put some limits on Mr. Musk," as Trump reportedly said that from that point on, "the secretaries would be in charge; the Musk team would only advise."
In April, the The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump and Musk spent time together almost every weekend, and that Trump admired Musk's humor and wealth — and the interest other world leaders took in Musk. The story also noted Trump's attempts to smooth over Musk's tense relationship with his cabinet officials.
But the WSJ reported in May that the president and his staffers had expressed various frustrations over Musk's erratic messaging and his deep investment in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race. The candidate Musk backed, Brad Schimel, was a conservative backed by the Republican Party, but White House aides believed he would not win the race and it would become a referendum on Musk and Trump. (They were right.)
Axios reported in June that Musk wanted the Federal Aviation Administration to use his Starlink satellite system for national air traffic control — but "the administration balked at it because of the appearance of a conflict of interest and for technological reasons."
Snopes has not independently verified the reports from Axios, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
On April 5, news outlets reported that Musk posted, then deleted, an X post disparaging Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro. "A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing," Musk said in reference to Navarro's degree, adding that Navarro "hadn't built s***." On April 8, Musk called Navarro a slur for developmentally disabled people, "truly a moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks" in several X posts.
Musk's frustrations with Navarro appeared to be over Trump's tariff policy, which Navarro was largely in charge of. (Musk said in an X post on June 5 that he believed Trump's tariffs would cause a recession in "the second half this year.")
Musk then began publicly criticizing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in a May 27 interview with CBS News, saying he was "disappointed" to see that the "massive spending bill" would increase the budget deficit, adding that it "undermines the work DOGE has been doing" (see 6:00).
"I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both," he said.
The next day, Musk announced that his "scheduled time" as a special government employee was coming to an end. Trump presented Musk with a key to the White House on May 30 and called him an "incredible patriot" (see 11:40). Musk said he'd "expect to remain a friend and an adviser" and that he was "at the president's service" (see 20:13). Axios reported, however, that Musk had discussed trying to stay in that role beyond the 130-day time limit for special government employees but White House officials denied the request.
On June 1, Trump announced on Truth Social that he would withdraw a nomination of a Musk ally, Jared Isaacman, to head NASA after a "thorough review of prior associations." Based on other comments, Trump was likely referring to Isaacman's past donations to Democrats — but Axios reported that for Musk, the withdrawal was the "final straw."
"I'm not going to play dumb on this — I don't think timing was much of a coincidence. … There were other changes going on the same day," Isaacman said at the 50:04 mark in an "All-In Podcast" episode published June 4, presumably referencing Musk's departure.
On June 3, Musk posted that he "just can't stand it anymore."
"This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination," he wrote.
Over the next few days, Musk's X feed largely consisted of criticizing the budget bill. He repeatedly raised concerns over "debt slavery" — enslavement for unpaid debts — and the bill's potential effect on the national deficit. He began outright lobbying against the bill, calling on his followers to "kill the bill."
In a June 5 Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump said he was "very disappointed" to see Musk's tirade (see 4:09).
"I've always liked Elon, and so I was very surprised," Trump said. "He hasn't said anything about me that's bad. I'd rather have him criticize me than the bill, because the bill is incredible. It's the biggest cut in the history of this country."
Trump claimed Musk "knew the inner workings" of the bill better than many in the administration and "had no problem with it" until they cut the EV subsidies (see 21:07). (Musk said on X that the president's comments were false and the bill "was never shown to me even once.") The president also alleged that Musk was unhappy about the administration's decision to reverse Isaacman's nomination to lead NASA (see 15:03).
"He said the most beautiful things about me. And he hasn't said bad about me personally, but I'm sure that'll be next," Trump said (see 21:55). "But I'm very disappointed in Elon. I helped Elon a lot."
As Trump predicted, Musk turned to personal attacks: Musk claimed Trump wouldn't have won the election without him, amplified a call for Trump's impeachment and alleged the Trump administration hasn't released files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because the president is in them.
Minutes before Musk posted about the Epstein files, Trump posted on his Truth Social account, "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!"
Minutes after Musk posted his allegations that Trump was in unreleased Epstein-related files, Trump appeared to respond, without directly referencing Musk's claim. Trump's post read, "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!"
Trump also threatened to take away Musk's government contracts in a Truth Social post the same day: "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, in a now-deleted response, threatened to decommission the SpaceX capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station — before backing off from the threat after an X user pleaded with him to cool off.
Let's discuss the actual policy the two men appear to be fighting about: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
First, a quick recap: Musk's criticisms of the bill, at least publicly, center on his belief it will increase the federal deficit. Trump says Musk is mad over the administration's decision to remove electric-vehicle tax credits — what the president called an "EV mandate" — from the bill.
While Musk initially supported eliminating the EV tax credit in 2023, he appears to have reversed his stance. The budget bill includes the elimination of a tax credit worth roughly as much as $7,500 for some Tesla models and other electric vehicles by Dec. 31, 2025, seven years ahead of schedule — see Section 112002 of the bill, "TERMINATION OF CLEAN VEHICLE CREDIT." JP Morgan estimated Tesla would lose $1.2 billion over the elimination, according to Bloomberg.
Thus, it is accurate to say Musk stands to lose money over the removal of the tax credit. But Musk, in response to Trump's comments in the Oval Office, claimed on X that he cared more about what he believed was wasteful spending in the bill.
"Whatever," he said. "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."
Musk's attacks centered on what he believed was Trump's about-face on raising the debt ceiling — a limit Congress sets as to how much money the government can borrow — as well as the fact the budget bill would increase the deficit. Part of Musk's tirade against Trump involved him pulling out old Trump posts about the deficit to paint the president as a hypocrite.
It is true that Trump was against raising the federal deficit before he became president — but he raised the ceiling multiple times during his first term. In a June 4 Truth Social post, he said he wanted to abolish the debt limit entirely "to prevent an Economic catastrophe."
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would increase the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion through 2034; that would grow to $3 trillion with interest, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget — and $5 trillion with interest if temporary tax cuts were made permanent. As Trump had touted, the package also cuts spending by about $1.3 trillion, with most of that coming from cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, according to the CBO.
The bill would thus necessitate raising the debt ceiling, as the ceiling as of 2025 is $36.1 trillion, which the United States has already breached — the national debt, as of this writing, was $36.2 trillion, forcing the United States to take what's called "extraordinary measures" to temporarily prevent a default on the debt. Defaulting, the Department of the Treasury said, would result in "catastrophic repercussions."
Private arguments and issues the Trump team had with Musk may have led to this very public fight, according to reputable news outlets. While the center of the fight appeared to be the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the two were already at odds over Trump pulling the nomination of a Musk ally to lead NASA and Musk's opposition to Trump's tariff policy and the architect behind it, to name a few incidents.
In early June, Musk began attacking the budget bill, leading Trump to say he was "very disappointed" in the tech billionaire before posting a few of his own responses on Truth Social. Aside from Musk attacking the bill as being bloated and financially irresponsible, Musk also attacked Trump's character. Trump alleged Musk was actually upset with the bill's electric-vehicle tax-credit cuts and said the easiest way to reduce spending would be to take Musk's government contracts away.
In terms of the policy discussion, it is true the bill increases spending and the national debt, as Musk claimed, and it is true ending the EV tax credit would likely harm Tesla. At the end of the day, we can't say exactly what is going on in either man's their head, making it impossible to know whether there's more to the fight — but the evidence suggests the budget bill is at least one major sticking point for the relationship.
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Face the Nation. "Trump and Musk Take Questions as Tesla CEO Exits 'Special Government Employee' Post." YouTube, 30 May 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFUp3Y9ZWWI. Accessed 6 June 2025.
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---. "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!" Truth Social, 5 June 2025, truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114632205177163456. Accessed 6 June 2025.
---. "I Am Very Pleased to Announce That, after All of These Years, I Agree with Senator Elizabeth Warren on SOMETHING. The Debt Limit Should Be Entirely Scrapped to Prevent an Economic Catastrophe. It Is Too Devastating to Be Put in the Hands of Political People That May Want to Use It despite the Horrendous Effect It Could Have on Our Country And, Indirectly, Even the World. As to Senator Warren's Second Statement on the $4 Trillion Dollars, I like That Also, but It Would Have to Be Done over a Period of Time, as Short as Possible. Let's Get Together, Republican and Democrat, and DO THIS!" Truth Social, 4 June 2025, truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114626260163622304. Accessed 6 June 2025.
---. "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!" Truth Social, 5 June 2025, truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114632555927229642. Accessed 6 June 2025.
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Trump floats regime change in Iran

President Trump floated the possibility of "regime change" in Iran on Sunday in a post to his Truth Social account. "It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!" the president wrote. Why it matters: This is the first time Trump has raised the possibility of regime change in Iran since Israel launched its war ten days ago — and the U.S. joined with airstrikes targeting Iran's nuclear sites on Saturday. Trump has criticized the neo-conservative faction of the Republican Party for years over their support for regime changes in Iraq, Iran and other places around the world. Driving the news: The president's post is a departure from the rest of his administration, which has stressed multiple times over the last several days that its goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and that the U.S. is not pushing for regime change in Iran. Vice President Vance said on Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press" that the administration's view "has been very clear that we don't want a regime change." "We do not want to protract this or build this out any more than it's already been built out. We want to end their nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here," Vance said. Between the lines: An Iran regime change has become an unstated goal of the Israeli government since the war began earlier this month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even said it could be one of the results of the war. Yes, but: There has been no significant uprising against the Iranian regime since the war began, and experts have mentioned a dynamic of rallying around the flag in Iran — even among Iranians who are critical of the regime. State of play: Trump also wrote on his Truth Social account on Sunday that the damage to the Iran nuclear sites targeted by U.S. airstrikes "is said to be monumental" and that the hits "were hard and accurate."

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• Axios

"It was a headfake": Inside Trump's secret orders to strike Iran

President Trump told the world last Thursday that he would decide " within the next two weeks" whether to strike Iran. 48 hours later, B-2 stealth bombers were whizzing through Iranian airspace — undetected — on a mission to cripple the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Why it matters: Trump remained open to aborting the mission if a diplomatic window emerged. But his public countdown doubled as a smokescreen — concealing a strike plan that was already in motion, according to multiple officials. "It was a headfake," a Trump adviser told Axios. "He knew the media couldn't resist amplifying it. He knew the Iranians might think he was bluffing. Well, everyone was wrong." "The president wanted to buy time," another adviser said. "He knew what he wanted to do. And he knows he can't look eager for war. So all the folks in MAGA urging restraint gave him some space." Driving the news: The bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities on Saturday marked the most direct and consequential U.S. military action against Iran since the Islamic Republic was founded in 1979. Trump, who praised the operation as a "spectacular military success," came to the decision to join Israel's war after months of failed diplomacy — and one last secret effort to meet with Iranian officials last week. Once Trump decided Thursday that a military intervention was necessary, he tightly controlled the administration's messaging and narrowed the circle of people involved in the planning. Between the lines: As with many moments of geopolitical drama during Trump's two terms, his aides have gone to great lengths to emphasize an image of total command and decisive leadership. "This wasn't a Pentagon operation. This was a Donald Trump operation," a senior administration official told Axios. "He came up with the PR. He chose the plans. He chose the day." "He's no Jimmy Carter," the official said, referencing the last time the U.S. tried direct military action in Iran: Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, a humiliating and failed hostage rescue mission. The complexity of Saturday's Operation Midnight Hammer — which amounted to the largest B-2 strike in U.S. history — required meticulous planning from the Pentagon that likely stretched back years. Behind the scenes: In the first days after Israel launched its unprecedented attack on Iran, Trump hoped a swift nuclear deal could end the war before it escalated further. From the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada last weekend, he began coordinating with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to arrange a high-level meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials in Istanbul. Trump was prepared to send Vice President J.D. Vance and White House envoy Steve Witkoff — or even travel himself to meet Iran's president, if that's what it would take to reach a deal. Vance and Witkoff had even started packing their bags, but it became clear on Monday afternoon that the meeting was not going to happen, senior U.S. official said. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was in hiding over fears of assassination, couldn't be reached to authorize the talks — and constant Israeli airstrikes made it too dangerous for Iranian officials to leave the country. "The president was ready to go forward with a strike if no diplomatic breakthrough took place. And as the week progressed, he realized that this was the case," a U.S. official told Axios. Zoom in: While still at the G7 summit, Trump gave the Pentagon the order to begin final planning work for a U.S. strike on Iran. On Tuesday, after cutting short his trip to Canada, he convened a Situation Room meeting with his top national security team. Trump pressed for details on the military plans, the reliability of the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, and the potential risks of the operation. "The military and the Pentagon told the president they were sure it was going to work," a U.S. official said. On Friday afternoon, a day after suggesting the attack could be delayed, Trump gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the green-light to launch the B-2 bombers. Several hours later, the stealth bombers departed their base in Missouri. Some flew west as decoys. The real strike group headed east toward Iran, according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine. On Saturday afternoon, while still at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump was told the bombers were about to reach the point of no return — the moment they would go into full radio silence. The president gave the final go-ahead. Shortly after, Trump boarded Air Force One and flew back to Washington to be in the Situation Room as the first bombs hit their targets. Sitting in the Situation Room, the president saw that the media was still reporting he was undecided, a U.S. official said. That's when Trump grew confident the operation would be successful. "In the end, it was everything. The timing was right. The Ayatollah gave Trump and the U.S. the middle finger. And that came with a price," said a Trump confidant who spoke with the president in recent days. The intrigue: An extraordinarily small group of officials inside the Trump administration knew about the planned strike. "There were no leaks from the Pentagon or from the White House," a U.S. official said. Trump himself helped maintain the secrecy, using public statements to keep Washington, Tehran and the rest of the world guessing about his true intentions. On Thursday, he told reporters he would decide "within the next two weeks" whether to join the war — signaling that a strike wasn't necessarily imminent. A U.S. official said the president was willing to abort the mission at any minute if he saw a diplomatic opening, but "his instinct at that point was to move forward with a strike." An Israeli official told Axios that by the time Trump made the "two weeks" comment, he had already decided to authorize military action — and knew exactly when it would happen. On Friday night, as the bombers were already in the air, Trump appeared upbeat and relaxed at his golf club in New Jersey. "POTUS was having the time of his life. None of us had any idea that a bunch of bombers were already in the air ready to rain down hell," said one person who spoke with him that evening. What to watch: As the strike was underway, White House envoy Steve Witkoff sent a message to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to make clear that the operation was a one-off and limited strictly to Iran's nuclear program, a U.S. official told Axios. Witkoff, who has remained in direct contact with Araghchi throughout the crisis, emphasized that the U.S. still seeks a diplomatic resolution — and now wants Iran to return to the table following the destruction of its key enrichment sites, the official said. Several senior Trump officials, including Vance and Hegseth, stressed Sunday that the U.S. does not seek regime change in Iran and called on the Iranians to return to the negotiating table. The big picture: Multiple factors ultimately triggered Trump's decision to green-light the strike and go where no president has gone before, advisers told Axios. The CIA, working closely with Israeli intelligence, delivered fresh assessments on Iran's nuclear progress, though skepticism remains about whether Iran had made the formal decision to build a bomb. A damning International Atomic Energy Agency report underscored the urgency. And Israel's success in degrading Iranian air defenses created a window to act. The bottom line: Trump still wants a deal with Iran — and wanted one before the bombers took off, an adviser to the president told Axios.