What happens when the world’s richest man goes head-to-head with the world’s most powerful man?
We’re about to find out, as Elon Musk and U.S.
President Donald Trump
have officially fallen out, with what began as a quiet disagreement now cascading into a full-blown war of words.
What began as an unlikely alliance between U.S. President Donald Trump and tech billionaire
Elon Musk
has now snowballed into a dramatic feud, sending shockwaves through America’s political and tech landscapes.
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Musk, who had once been one of Trump’s loudest cheerleaders, bankrolling his re-election campaign with nearly $300 million and even shaping government policies through his now-defunct “
Department of Government Efficiency
,” is now openly attacking Trump and threatening to pull political support from the Republican Party.
For Nigerian readers, think of this as
Dangote
falling out publicly with a sitting president just after securing major contracts and being called “an indispensable partner” — that’s how big this breakup is in American politics.
The Genesis: New Tax-and-spending Bill
It all started behind closed doors on Wednesday. Trump met with White House officials and, while visibly irritated by Musk’s growing criticisms of his new tax-and-spending bill, held back from lashing out. He still wanted Musk’s influence, especially with tech donors and younger, male voters, going into the midterm elections.
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But by Thursday, the tone changed. After Musk took to X (formerly Twitter), labelling Trump’s new bill “a disgusting abomination” and accusing him of reckless spending, Trump snapped. While sitting with German Chancellor
Friedrich Merz
, Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed” in Musk — and that marked the beginning of the public fight.
Trump then went on his own social media platform, Truth Social, threatening to cancel all federal subsidies and contracts with Musk’s companies — a move with serious implications for Tesla and SpaceX.
Musk fired back, hinting at launching a new political party and endorsing a call for Trump’s impeachment. Tesla’s stock tanked by 14% as markets reacted to the chaos.
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Insiders say the straw that broke the camel’s back was Trump pulling his nomination of
Jared Isaacman
, a billionaire ally of Musk, to head NASA. Musk viewed it as a personal slight and confirmation that his once-powerful voice in the White House was fading.
Even before the Isaacman incident, Trump’s aides had begun clipping Musk’s wings, quietly reducing his influence over federal agencies and budget decisions. Musk, in turn, began protesting Trump’s spending bill more aggressively, warning of a bloated national budget and even threatening to stop political donations.
While the White House says the president is still confident the bill will pass, the rift with Musk has left many in Washington stunned. Aides are now scrambling to schedule a reconciliation call between the two men, but it’s unclear whether their once-rosy partnership can be repaired.
For both Trump and Musk, the consequences of this falling out are far-reaching; one risks losing crucial influence among tech donors, social media audiences, and younger male voters — key groups that may now be harder to reach—and the other faces political retaliation that could jeopardize billion-dollar federal contracts.
It’s a textbook case of political bromance gone bad — and both titans are playing for keeps.
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