Trump-Musk II: The Meltdown

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What started as a Nagasaki-Hiroshima-level atomic tiff between U.S. president Donald Trump and former senior advisor Elon Musk instantly devolved into a full-blown nuclear winter. Acrimonious tweets laced with raw invective were flying back and forth like newly unleashed intercontinental ballistic missiles.

“This is the best day on Twitter EVER!” a political reporter who aggressively follows social media told us.

The erstwhile allies (emphasis on “erstwhile”) went at each other today like cyber street brawlers – with Musk in particular aiming for Trump’s jugular.

Turns out their high-profile split earlier this week over Trump’s signature “Big Beautiful Bill” was just the opening act.

Asked about the breakup during an Oval Office photo-op this morning with Germany’s visiting chancellor, the president was civil (even mild by Trump standards). He said he was “very disappointed” over his former DOGE chief calling the bill “an abomination.”

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“I’ve always liked Elon,” Trump began. “I’m very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people (reporters). He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out that we’re going to have to cut the EV mandate, because that’s billions and billions of dollars, and it really is unfair.”

He also said, “I’d rather have him criticize me than the bill, because the bill is incredible.” 

Musk grabbed that ball and ran with it, proceeding to deliver via his social media platform X one of the biggest broadsides in presidential history.

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President vs Elon. Who wins? My money's on Elon.

Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him. pic.twitter.com/r0D4Gkiz4v

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 5, 2025

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Musk followed that up with, “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

At that point, it was on like Donkey Kong. The two went after each other like Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots via social media with the whole world watching at ringside. 

MUSK: “Without me, Trump would have lost the (2024) election. Dems would control the House, and Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude.”

Asked if it was time for a new political party, MUSK: “Yes… and 84% of 386k people voted YES.”

TRUMP:  “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that was forcing everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody wanted … and he just went CRAZY!”

Then the president proceeded to up the ante.

TRUMP: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Government Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

The billionaire businessman saw Trump’s bet and raised him;

MUSK: “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”

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For those not up to date on celestial conveyance, Dragon is a series of reusable spacecraft developed and operated by Musk’s SpaceX company, designed to carry cargo and crew into space, especially to and from the International Space Station.

But it didn’t end there. Asked late Thursday afternoon on X if Trump should be impeached – and replaced by vice president JD Vance – Musk’s answer was short, sweet, and unambiguous: “Yes.”

While all those arrows were flying through the cybersphere, Musk’s Tesla was taking a beating on Wall Street. Its stock lost $152 billion in capital Thursday, a 14% loss in its biggest decline ever. More troubling to investors, Tesla dipped below $1 trillion in capital funds.

As afternoon gave way to evening, the two antagonists stepped back, allowing people to assess the massive damage they had inflicted on each other.    

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“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “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!

One South Carolina observer summed it up this way: “Americans are now children caught in a messy divorce.”

During the Oval Office photo-op mentioned earlier, Trump said, “Elon and I used to have a great relationship, but I don’t know if we will anymore.”

We’re only 156 days into 2025, and we already have a winner for understatement of the year.

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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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