America's implosion: Trump-Musk feud reveals fight for power, deals, ultimate betrayal

US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk (R) speak in the Oval Office before departing the White House in Washington, DC, on the way to Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on March 14, 2025. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) The Trump-Musk bromance, a riveting story of frenemies who conspired to hand Republicans a win in the 2024 US Presidential election, imploded dramatically on Thursday (June 5, 2025), when President Donald Trump and SpaceX boss Elon Musk viciously attacked each other on social media, making chilling allegations - and threats - against each other for hours on end. Subtle hints of the fallout came early, with Musk's measured protestations against Trump's "big, beautiful bill" quickly growing into a blistering, vitriolic attack; Musk eventually decided the bill was 'a disgusting abomination'. The signature tax and spending bill, which Musk says would saddle American citizens with debt and increase the country's budget deficit, proposed huge tax breaks and more defence spending. In a series of rejoinders, Trump was categorical that Musk's diatribe was inspired by a denial of favours he had expected from the president. "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," the president wrote on Truth Social, his social network. Legislation cuts The Musk-infamous Trump legislation cuts the electric vehicle tax credit that helps car makers like Tesla, with claims Musk had lobbied hard against this move. It is also thought that Musk had asked for an extension of his 130-day tenure as a "special government employee" in which, running The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he was unpaid. Trump also withdrew his nomination of Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator, announcing he would nominate another candidate who would be 'mission aligned' and who would 'put America first in space', to which Musk cheekily reacted with a reference to glowing tribute Trump had paid Isaacman at the time of nominating him. In the early hours of Thursday, a lot happened. Musk could not properly mask his frustration with his bosom buddy, a short-lived union whose divorce is already looking very messy. A furious Trump, decrying what he referred to as Musk's ungratefulness, wrote: "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 (former President Joe) Biden didn't do it!" That statement hit a raw nerve. Musk, in a quick response, wrote: "In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately." The Dragon capsules are used by NASA to transport astronauts to and from The International Space Station. A decommissioning would be a huge blow to The United States' space forays, as NASA is also heavily reliant on SpaceX for launching science missions and, it is expected before the next decade, returning astronauts to the surface of the moon. Although Musk later on backtracked on this threat, the decommissioning would be painful for The US, as SpaceX is the only US company capable right now of transporting crews to and from the space station without which The US would have to seek aid from Russia for this purpose. Elon Musk is the richest man on earth, with an estimated fortune of $387.9 Billion according to Forbes ($335B, according to Bloomberg), well over $150 Billion more than second placed Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO. Space company Musk is the CEO of automaker Tesla, space company SpaceX, telecommunications provider Starlink, The Boring Company, and social site X. He has had a long history with Donald Trump, who is serving a second term as president of The United States. In 2016, as former President Barack Obama's second term came to an end, Musk threw his weight behind Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, intimating that he did not consider Republican frontrunner Trump fit for presidency. But Trump won, and Musk temporarily joined the government, serving on a number of advisory boards. When Trump pulled out of The Paris Climate Accord, Musk left his role in the government and announced his withdrawal of support for the president. Amid the association of Trump and the government through his companies, the president, in 2020, said of the SpaceX boss: "He's one of our great brains. We like great brains." In 2022, at a time when it was clear Trump was considering a comeback in the 2024 elections, Musk suggested his intention to ditch Democrats- with whom he had been in an on-off dalliance throughout the Trump and Biden terms- in May 2022 for Republicans. He made it clear, however, that he was unhappy with Trump vying for a second term, and a war of words followed, with Trump saying Musk's companies would be "worthless" without federal backing. Trump on X When Musk bought Twitter, which he renamed X in October 2022 for $44 Billion, he quickly reinstated Trump, who had been removed following events of January 6, 2021 where protesters overran security forces and breached Capitol Building in Washington, in what was widely labeled an attempted coup, following Trump's loss in the 2020 elections. Musk went on to endorse, and support, one of Trump's competitors, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in the Republican party primaries. Trump, however, galloped to victory to become the party's flag bearer, and in July 2024, Musk joined the Trump bandwagon, reportedly committing over $270 million to get him elected. After Trump had trounced Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris, who ran instead of Joe Biden, he appointed Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was tasked with cutting federal government spending. Within weeks, DOGE had attracted great praise from proponents and serious ire of opponents, with its vast influence within the Trump administration that included slashing government staff and nearly torpedoing some federal agencies. Due to his position, Musk received a flurry of attacks from unhappy parties, including from disgruntled Democrats who claimed he wielded too much power in spite of him not being an electee of the American people. Many demonstrations were organised on the streets. His companies, especially Tesla, suffered greatly as a grassroot protest movement called Tesla Takedown quickly materialised, vandalising privately owned Tesla cars and attacking dealerships. The Tesla shares continued to plunge as uncertainty continued. Musk left his DOGE position on May 30 having achieved the maximum number of days he could serve as a special government employee. Within the few months of Trump's presidency, within which Musk sat almost centrally, a lot has happened. Time labeled Trump's first 100 days in office as "among the most destabilising in American history, a blitz of power grabs, strategic shifts, and direct attacks that have left opponents, global counterparts, and even many supporters stunned." He threatened deportations, fired federal workers, attacked the media, launched a fierce battle against universities, pardoned defendants of the January 6 insurgence, and slapped countries with punitive tariffs (with a baseline of 10 per cent). Trump sought to defund programmes and agencies- putting him on a collision course with the courts, which had also opposed his immigration crackdown. As DOGE attempted to check public spending, the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) was scrapped, which saw tens of countries from the global South that are heavily dependent on the funding forced to seek alternatives in emergency interventions to close gaps in funding that had been enforced, and thousands of workers laid off across these countries. The effects of the imposition of the tariffs can already be felt in The US. Inflation is increasing, a serious devaluation of the dollar looks imminent, and manufacturing could be a long-term casualty. "They will soon create shortages of all sorts of goods, ruin small business, and force layoffs that bring about stagflation that has not been seen since the 1970s, which was then the result of an external oil shock, not self-harm," writes Guardian. Now, Musk insists that Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year. In the midst of all this chaos, a clash between two of the world's most powerful men, and who only last year formed a formidable duo that swore to 'Make America Great Again', was probably one of the least expected occurrences. This simmering dispute has seen the two level very damning allegations against each other. Musk, unhinged, wrote on X: "Time to drop the really big bomb: @DonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT! Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out."

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