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“I’m surprised it took this long.”
That’s one Republican strategist’s take on the widening rift between U.S. president Donald Trump and Elon Musk, his former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief.
It was a marriage born of convenience, a brash mega-billionaire who wanted to try his hand in the political world, and an equally brash politician (and billionaire) who desperately wanted to get his old job back. They shared one thing in common: both desperately wanted Joe Biden out of the White House.
That was accomplished last November via Trump’s 31-state sweep at the ballot box.
As a reward, Musk (whose net worth was pegged at $423 billion as of June 1, 2025) was named head of DOGE. Despite its official sounding name, the new “agency” was not a Cabinet-level entity, nor was Musk’s appointment subject to Senate confirmation. Rather, he was officially classified as a temporary senior advisor to the president.
It’s worth noting Vivek Ramaswamy, a multi-millionaire businessman and former 2024 GOP president candidate, was initially named as Musk’s sidekick in the DOGE venture. His tenure had barely begun before he exited, citing his desire to focus on his upcoming Ohio gubernatorial bid. A more plausible reason, however, is he quickly sized up there were too many cooks in the kitchen and bailed.
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Left alone at DOGE’s helm, Musk led a cadre of young tech heads rampaging their way through the federal bureaucracy like Vikings raiding coastal villages. He promised DOGE would save taxpayers $1 trillion and make the federal government operate more efficiently to boot.
DOGE fired and slashed and trimmed with abandon while Musk proudly beamed and took curtain calls from admiring conservatives.
Liberals, however, were far from enthralled. It can be argued the tipping point for many of them came when Trump gutted one of their most beloved institutions, the U.S. Department of Education. Though not abolished—only a congressional vote can completely eliminate it—Trump effectively neutered the agency via executive order.
Musk’s venture flying solo in campaign politics ended badly when the candidates he backed, most notably the Republican in Wisconsin’s high-profile state Supreme Court primary election, went down in flames on April 1. That didn’t score him any points in his boss’s eyes. Some observers noted the first cracks in the Trump-Musk relationship began appearing soon thereafter.
As spring advanced, progressive anger gave way to fury. They make up the bulk of Tesla EV owners (one of Musk’s signature creations), most of whom bought them as a show of solidarity with Green New Dealers in the climate change battle. Now their pinup boy, the very man so many had openly admired, was leading a perceived attack on their beloved federal government.
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RELATED | TESLA ATTACKS HIGHLIGHT NEW WAVE OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE
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A wave of criminal activity directed at Teslas, Tesla charging stations and Tesla owners ensued. In the Far Left’s eyes, owning one of the premium EVs went almost overnight from virtue signaling “you’re one of us” into a scarlet letter screaming, “you’re one of them!“
Trump tried to help his beleaguered associate by hosting a highly questionable Tesla car show on the White House’s South lawn (even shelling out $80,000 on a Tesla for his granddaughter).
It didn’t help. Worse than the vandalism directed at the vehicles was the utter pillorying the Tesla corporation underwent. Sales took a beating; its stock nosedived.
Amid rumors that Tesla’s board of directors had just about reached their limit, Musk announced he was stepping down from DOGE sooner than expected. He received a red-carpet send-off: a farewell news conference with Trump in the Oval Office last Friday. It was an oddly old-school finale to a relationship where one partner symbolizes the future.
However, Musk has been “bombs away” on his former boss ever since.
The biggest rift between the two came Wednesday, when Musk unloaded on the thing nearest and dearest to Trump’s heart, the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Musk didn’t hold back on his social media platform (which he owns, incidentally), calling the proposal a “disgusting abomination” of spending that would shoot federal deficits into the stratosphere.
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I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2025
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.
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“I’m sorry, I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote. “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.”
The White House immediately rolled into defense mode. In typical Trump fashion, it doubled down.
“Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Wednesday’s press briefing. “It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it.”
That was said publicly. Privately, sources in the know are sticking it to Trump’s former ally.
“Elon is butt hurt,” one bluntly said. For instance, the “Big Beautiful Bill” would cut tax credits to EV manufacturers like Tesla. In fact, it’s reported that as of late April, Tesla had spent nearly $250,000 on lobbying to keep those credits intact.
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Some say Musk had wanted to stay on at DOGE beyond the 130-day limit allowed by federal law for an unpaid advisor. When administration officials insisted that wasn’t possible, Musk was annoyed.
The straw that broke the camel’s back seems to have come last Saturday night, when the White House abruptly withdrew Jared Isaacman – a Musk ally – for NASA administrator. The move was reportedly pushed by Sergio Gor, White House personnel director, who had engaged in several battles royale with Musk earlier this year.
“This was Sergio’s out-the-door ‘F—K YOU!’ to Musk,” one White House staffer explained.
Whatever the reason, the marriage made in MAGA Heaven appears to have wound up in divorce court – for the time being, anyway. Trump has previously displayed an ability to let bygones be bygones when it serves his political purposes (just ask Lindsey Graham and Nancy Mace).
While their future is unseeable, this much is certain: with 43 months remaining in Trump’s presidency – and with the world’s richest personal fortune and a leading social media platform at his command – this is far from the last we will hear from the two about each other.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
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3 comments
Two pathological narcissists cannot coexist in the same space.
DOGE was a bad joke. Out of a $2 trillion goal they only got to a questionable $8 billion, not counting having to reinstate employees that were cut. But Elon and his cadre of Big Balls incels got to smash and grab all personal info of every citizen in the country.
“Tesler! Its all computer” –Stable Genius
I almost feel embarrassed for jackasses like Rum Ready who couldn’t wait to jump on the DOGE bandwagon. Bless their simpleton hearts.
You are perfect in everyway without a single flaw.
I never thought Elon was a genius, or if he is, it’s in the same way Trump is a genius, i.e. not. That said, he should have been smart enough to know that anything Donald Trump touches dies. The minute Elon stopped funneling money to Trump, he was of no value to Trump. Trump spends 24 hours a day, sleeping, eating, playing golf, thinking about playing golf, watching TV, tweeting nonsense, and coming up with new ways to sell his presidential powers to the highest bidder. Elon should have known that if he wanted to stay in his position of influence, he needed to go out and buy 20 or 30 million of Trump meme coins, or finance a Trump Hotel at a very low interest rate. Of course, even if he had done that, it would have only been temporary. The demand for tribute never ends.
God knows he keeps finding ways to empty the pockets of his cult members. We have to go after China, they are taking advantage of us. Oh, your hat looks old; it’s time for you to buy a new Chinese-made MAGA cap. Don’t you want a Trump superhero card? How about another Lee Greenwood bible? I’ve got this meme coin thing going. If you buy enough of those, I will shake your hand while you are dining at Mar-A-Taco on cheap food and guzzling Trump water. And have I got a deal for you! A gold colored Trump watch, for only $100,000. It came from China, too, which is why it says Rump instead of Trump, but we will get that fixed by the next batch, and the diamonds on the front look almost as real as the gold colored band.