Thu, 05 Jun 2025

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 Trump and Musk trade insults as row erupts in public view

The breaking point came after Musk criticised Trump's centrepiece "big, beautiful" spending bill as an "abomination".
US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk are engaged in a bitter feud on social media, with both trading insults over a key domestic policy. Trump expressed disappointment that Musk criticized his administration's tax and spending bill, suggesting it may be the end of their "great relationship". Musk fired back at Trump, accusing him of ingratitude and stating that without him, Trump would have lost the election. The feud escalated as Musk continued to post criticisms of the bill on Twitter, including accusations that it is a "disgusting abomination" and will add to the US national debt. Trump defended the bill, suggesting that Musk was upset about the removal of subsidies for electric vehicles. Musk denied this, saying he wanted to keep the EV incentives in place but oppose the "mountain of pork" in the bill. The rift between the two billionaires comes after weeks of Musk lobbying against the spending bill and a series of posts on Twitter criticizing Trump's policies. Trump's press secretary condemned Musk's allegations as an "unfortunate episode", while Trump himself claimed that Musk had gone "crazy". Musk responded by stating that SpaceX would begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately, and Tesla stock dropped 14% in response to the row. The spending bill at the center of the dispute is expected to increase the US national debt by $2.4tn over 10 years, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis.
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