Everyone knew the day would come when the relationship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump actually imploded. And that day is finally here, with Musk going scorched-Earth and now saying Trump is in the “Epstein Files,” a reference to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“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 on X.
Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
The open feud between the two men started when President Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Musk during a press conference in the White House on Thursday, suggesting the billionaire might be developing “Trump Derangement Syndrome” after he criticized the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Trump even poked fun at Musk’s black eye, saying, “Do you want a little makeup?”
Now Musk is having a full-blown meltdown on his social media platform X, retweeting memes making fun of Trump, joking that Trump may have been replaced with a body double, and saying it might be time to form a new political party. There’s also the accusation that Trump is in “the Epstein Files,” the long-fabled government files showing the powerful people who were associated with Epstein. Trump was rather openly Epstein’s friend for years, but many MAGA supporters refuse to believe there was anything nefarious happening between the two.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk wrote Thursday. “Such ingratitude.”
Musk, who reportedly spent over $250 million in the 2024 election to help elect Trump and other Republicans, was responding in his tweet to a video of Trump saying he was “very disappointed” in the billionaire.
Musk also wrote, “Remember this @realDonaldTrump?” while quote-tweeting a video from March where Trump essentially did an ad for Tesla at the White House. The president bought a Tesla after the publicity stunt, which was one of many blatantly unethical moves by the two men during Musk’s stint as the head of DOGE. In the video, Trump can be heard calling Musk a “patriot” who has “never asked me for a thing.”
Musk also retweeted a meme from an account called Not Jerome Powell that uses the format of a Trump interview from his first term with Jonathan Swan. The meme shows Trump saying, “I have a plan to cut spending” before handing Swan a piece of paper that reads “increase spending.”
Screenshot: XMusk responded to Trump’s claims in the televised Oval Office press conference on Thursday that he only got upset after EV “mandates” had been killed, though it seems like the two men may have been confused about what the other was talking about.
“This is me in 2021!” Musk tweeted, sharing a video clip where he said Tesla didn’t need to rely on tax credits anymore. Trump seemed to be talking about a bill passed by Republicans in the Senate last month that makes it illegal for states like California to phase out vehicles with internal combustion engines. But the so-called Big Beautiful Bill doesn’t include anything about mandates, instead killing the tax credits that people can get for buying EVs. However, Musk obviously has benefited from government intervention, which has put billions of dollars in his pocket over the years.
Whatever Trump and Musk meant when it comes to the details of legislation around electric vehicles, these guys are clearly lashing out in ways that were long predicted. There have long been rumors that Trump didn’t like Musk, but they were clearly able to put their personal differences aside and work together in their quest to destroy the federal government.
Trump hit back during Musk’s tweet-storm with some posts of his own Thursday, really starting to put some oomph into his newfound hate for the billionaire oligarch.
Screenshot: Truth Social“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!” Trump wrote.
Then Trump delivered a line that every oligarch hates to hear. The president said he might have to take away Musk’s billions in subsidies and contracts.
Screenshot: Truth Social“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 Biden didn’t do it!” Trump wrote. Musk heavily relies on government contracts through his companies like SpaceX.
Musk responded to the threat with a quote-tweet about someone ending the contracts for SpaceX’s work shuttling astronauts to the International Space Station. “This just gets better and better,” Musk wrote with two crying-laughing emojis. “Go ahead, make my day…”
A little while later, Musk appeared to take it very personally, writing, “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”
In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately pic.twitter.com/NG9sijjkgW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
After Musk dropped his accusations about Epstein, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,” before defending his budget bill. But Musk leaned in even harder, amplifying a tweet about Trump’s relationship to Epstein, replying “yes” to a tweet about Trump being impeached and replaced by Vice President JD Vance, and writing “The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year.”
Social media sites also started to become filled with memes on Thursday, making fun of the rift between the two men, including a Mean Girls reference.
Ashley St. Clair, the right-wing author and mother of one of Musk’s children, also chimed in on X, writing, “hey @realDonaldTrump lmk if u need any breakup advice.”
Tesla’s stock is down 14% on the day at the time of this writing, with a share price of $284. And while Musk always seems to find a way to juice his stock with whatever new shiny object he can concoct, this rift with Trump and disillusionment with MAGA is sure to be a hurdle for the short term. When Musk is dropping references to Trump being in the so-called Epstein files, you know things are going to only get messier from here.
Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
How mess could things get? Steve Bannon, a longtime MAGA acolyte and Musk hater, is reportedly urging Trump to launch an investigation into the billionaire’s previous status as an “illegal alien,” according to the New York Times. Musk spoke at a conference in 2013 where his brother said the two of them were in the country illegally since they had arrived into the U.S. on student visas and dropped out to start a company.
“They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,” Bannon told the Times.
People who have lied on their immigration paperwork can indeed be stripped of their citizenship and deported.
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