BFF's To Bitter Enemies: The Rise And Fall Of Trump & Elon Musk's Relationship

Whatever President Donald Trump has been putting in Elon Musk's morning coffee seems to have stopped working. As May 2025 neared its end, so did the tech billionaire's tenure as the unofficial head of DOGE. Musk all but admitted his Trump bromance is over, and those who spent plenty of time keeping an eye on the two men's relationship were awarded with a popcorn-worthy moment on June 5, 2025, when their short-lived alliance blew up in similar fashion to the Tesla CEO's Starship rocket.

It's worth noting that, long before Musk poured millions into Trump's 2024 campaign, he used to be critical of the president. As the 2016 election loomed, Musk told CNBC that he didn't think Trump was fit to be president. "He doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States," he told the outlet, and even took a moment to compliment Hillary Clinton's environmental and economic policies. Musk used to be outspoken about climate change and criticized Trump for withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. But in 2022, something shifted when Musk reinstated Trump's suspended Twitter account after he acquired the social media platform. This came shortly after Trump announced he would make a third bid for the White House. Things only got stranger from there.

After Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Musk went all in, taking to X to endorse him for president. "I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery," Musk wrote, along with a video of Trump fist-pumping the air in victory after the bullet grazed his ear. Musk went on to put his money where his mouth is, dishing out $277 million to boost Trump and other Republicans' election campaigns.

Donald Trump rewards those who are loyal to him — one only has to look at his cabinet for proof, and Elon Musk no doubt played a significant part in helping the divisive politician secure a second term. As it went, he got handed a government job in return. Musk was appointed as a special government employee tasked with leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which focused on cutting excess government spending but in reality dismantled several federal agencies and left thousands of Americans without jobs.

Trump was happy with Musk's work, telling Fox News in February 2025, "He gets it done. He's a leader." When Fox News anchor Sean Hannity pointed out that Musk was doing all the work at DOGE free of charge, the Tesla CEO interjected. "I love the president, I just want to be clear about that. I think President Trump is a good man." Musk previously proclaimed his affection for Trump during the month of love on X, writing, "I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man." The only bright side to this strange tweet was that Musk didn't post it on the 14th.

Still, the tech billionaire faced vicious backlash for his work with the Trump administration, with Tesla taking the brunt of it. Trump even took to Truth Social to address this, blaming what he called the "radical left lunatics," saying they were "illegally and collusively [boycotting] Tesla," adding that the company is "one of the World's great automakers." He then vowed to buy a Tesla first thing the next morning to show his support to his friend, calling Musk "a truly great American."

Reports that Elon Musk was feuding with Donald Trump made headlines as early as December 2024, but it wasn't until April 2025 that it became clear that the two's relationship was starting to crumble. When you're a member of the Trump administration, publicly criticizing your colleagues isn't a good idea. But Musk did just that when he lashed out at White House trade advisor Peter Navarro after the latter accused Musk of being against tariffs because he uses foreign parts for his electric cars.

"[Musk is] not a car manufacturer, he's a car assembler in many cases," Navarro told CNBC, saying the engines in Musk's cars come from foreign countries. Netizens on X poked fun at this assertion, pointing out that electric cars technically don't have engines; they're powered by electric motors. Musk responded to the comment, writing, "I'd like to apologize to bricks for calling Peter Retarrdo dumber than a sack of bricks. That was so unfair to bricks." This comment and his aversion to Trump's tariff war couldn't have helped relations between Musk and the president, and at the end of April Trump hinted during a cabinet meeting that Musk should consider getting back to building cars. "You're invited to stay as long as you want. At some point, he wants to get back home to his cars," Trump said (via X) as Elon nodded a little too enthusiastically.

Musk had hinted that he was eager to get back to work at Tesla, which was facing financial woes as Musk's popularity continued to tank. The company reported a 71% drop in quarterly profits, and Musk appeared to be getting angsty. "Probably in the next month, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly," he said during a conference call (via Al Jazeera).

Before Elon Musk departed the White House for the last time, he carefully voiced some criticism for Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill. "I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk told CBS News. "I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion," Musk added, clearly still treading carefully.

The Tesla CEO's special government employee status was officially terminated on May 31, 2025. Donald Trump even took to Truth Social to post a thank you message to his buddy, which Musk reposted on X. But things only went downhill from there. By June 3, Musk dropped all pretense with a single tweet. "I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. 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," he wrote. The following day, Musk called on the people to call their representatives to keep the bill from passing because it will lead America into bankruptcy. "KILL THE BILL," Musk urged. 

On June 5, 2025, Donald Trump and Elon Musk's bromance breakup reached a fever pitch. It all started with Musk tweeting, "Slim Beautiful Bill for the win," after hinting at his distaste of Trump's new bill for days. During an interview with Fox News (via X), Musk doubled down on this, saying the bill was a "real wakeup call" for him and puts America at risk of bankruptcy. In a subsequent move, Musk posted a poll to X, asking users, "Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?" 80% voted yes as of this writing.

Trump did not take kindly to Musk criticizing his bill or his party and took to Truth Social to bite back. "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 politician penned (never mind that Trump's red Tesla was still standing in the White House parking lot at the time). Musk clapped back on X, writing "Such an obvious lie. So sad."

As the feud intensified, Trump declared on Truth Social that he will "terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts." The billionaire took to X to announce that, in that case, the Dragon spacecraft, which SpaceX built to transport astronauts between earth and the international space station, will no longer be available for use. Currently, SpaceX is the only company that can provide this transport, and Trump will be left begging Russia to take NASA astronauts and supplies to space if Musk makes good on his threats.

Elon Musk and Donald Trump sparring over the Big Beautiful Bill and trading some mild insults on their respective social media platforms was, in many ways, some great real-time comedy for an average Thursday. But then Musk lit the whole thing up when he brought the 2024 election results and the Jeffrey Epstein files to the boxing ring. "Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," he wrote on X in response to Trump downplaying his involvement in his election victory.

Musk continued to tweet excessively throughout the day, responding in real time to some of Trump's comments, and then he delivered a very low blow to the politician and his former friend. "Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" Musk wrote. "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out," he added.

Trump responded with a surprisingly calm post on Truth Social. If not for the intermittent use of all caps, one might have questioned whether the post had been censored by one of his aides before it was published. "I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago," the divisive politician wrote before once again reiterating how beautiful his bill is. Shortly after, Musk responded to a tweet suggesting that Trump be impeached and Vice President JD Vance take his place with a simple, "Yes." It might be safe to say that chances of Trump and Musk ever rekindling their bromance have thoroughly gone up in smoke.