Trump, Musk meltdowns: Election claims, Epstein accusations, Government contract threats, Tesla shares tumble

The high-profile rift between US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk has burst into the open, as the two traded public jabs over the administration’s sweeping tax and spending package.

Mr Musk, who recently departed his government advisory role, has become an outspoken critic of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” labelling it a “disgusting abomination” and now claiming Mr Trump would not have won the election without his support.

Mr Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, addressed Mr Musk’s criticism head-on. “Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” he said.

“He said the most beautiful things about me, and he hasn’t said bad about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next. But I’m, I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”

The US President suggested Mr Musk’s opposition was rooted in the bill’s removal of electric vehicle tax credits, which would hit Tesla’s bottom line. “I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of the bill better than almost anybody sitting here,” Mr Trump said.

“He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem and he only developed a problem when he found out that we were going to have to cut the EV mandate because that’s billions and billions of dollars”.

While Mr Trump spoke, Mr Musk was active on X, mocking the President’s claims and referencing old Trump posts about government overspending. “False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!” Mr Musk posted.

He also declared, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” and called the bill “a mountain of disgusting pork”.

Mr Musk also took a swipe at Trump by referencing conspiracy theories about political figures being replaced by body doubles. Sharing screenshots of Mr Trump’s past posts criticising government spending, Mr Musk asked, “Where is the man who wrote these words? Was he replaced by a body double!?”

In another post, Mr Musk wrote, “Time to drop the really big bomb: the real reason the Epstein files haven’t been released is because they name Trump.” He finished the message by mocking Mr Trump’s habit of signing off with his initials, adding, “Have a nice day, DJT!”

The public spat marks a dramatic shift from just days earlier, when Mr Trump praised Mr Musk’s government service and Musk pledged ongoing support.

Now, Mr Trump claims Mr Musk “misses the place” and is “not the first” to become critical after leaving the administration.

“People leave my administration ... then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Musk’s tenure as head of the Department of Government Efficiency was marked by aggressive cost-cutting and high-profile controversies, including protests at Tesla outlets and sharp reductions in federal spending.

Since his departure, Mr Musk has continued to needle Trump online, even suggesting it’s “time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80 per cent in the middle?”.

The feud has already had market repercussions, with Tesla shares sliding more than eight percent following Trump’s public criticism. As the two heavyweights continue to spar, the fallout is being felt across politics, business, and social media alike.

The row has escalated further when Mr Trump threatened to “terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” declaring on 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!”

Mr Musk fired back by threatening to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which currently ferries astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.

The feud has even drawn in Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, who called for all of Mr Musk’s government contracts to be cancelled and for investigations into Musk’s immigration status, telling the New York Times, “I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately.”