As some predicted: the alliance between the two narcissists was not going to last long.
On the morning of June 6, Musk dropped an information bomb on Twitter, the social platform he bought for $44 billion, to his 220 million followers: Trump appears in Epsteins files, which is why these files have not been made public. This is a list of files of super-rich people and politicians who sexually exploited underage girls, and it also represents the darkest corner of American politicians.
Musk says Trump appears in Epstein documents
This milestone tweet, which has been read hundreds of millions of times, also witnessed a century-long quarrel: the two political allies who once stood together, celebrated at the door of the White House, shook hands and took photos, and supported each other, eventually became enemies who accused each other and brought up old scores. And their honeymoon period lasted only 6 months.
A few months ago, Trump appointed Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), marking the official entry of the tech giant into the White House policy level. However, as Trump pushed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the relationship between the two began to take a sharp turn for the worse.
From political best friends to mutually insulting netizens
The earliest rift can be traced back to three months ago. Although the two still have a friendly relationship in public, people around them have noticed that their private conflicts are gradually emerging.
In March 2025, Trump reportedly refused to show Musk the Pentagons attack plan for a war with China, sparking Musks displeasure. Trumps former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon saw this as the first crack in the relationship between the two.
Then in May, Musk pushed the Federal Aviation Administration to adopt its Starlink satellite system for air traffic control, but was rejected due to conflicts of interest and technical issues, further exacerbating Musks dissatisfaction with the Trump administration. At the same time, Musks plan to lay off large numbers of employees and close agencies at DOGE also aroused strong dissatisfaction among cabinet members.
At the end of May, Trump vetoed the nomination of Musks ally Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator, which Musk regarded as the final insult.
So on June 1, Musk publicly expressed his dissatisfaction for the first time in an interview, saying that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) he led had become a scapegoat, and all the negative public opinion related to layoffs and budget cuts was pushed onto him. He said that although he had firmly supported Trump, he was deeply frustrated with the Beautiful Big Bill and believed that the bill was undermining the reform achievements of the DOGE team in the past few months.
Then, on June 3, Musk officially launched an attack on the X platform (formerly Twitter). He called the bill a huge, ridiculous and disgusting deformity that would not only increase the US fiscal deficit by $2.4 trillion, but also cancel tax credits for electric vehicles and clean energy, which is almost a direct blow to new energy companies such as Tesla. He pointed out that while the government has significantly expanded military and infrastructure spending, it has sacrificed key policy support for the new energy industry, which is completely contrary to his understanding of efficiency reform.
Musks criticism escalated further. He wrote that excessive spending will make the United States a debt slave and bluntly said that Congress is bankrupting the United States. He quoted Trumps old tweet criticizing the debt ceiling and asked, Is the person who said this back then still here? Has he been replaced by a stand-in? Then he even launched a poll: Should a new political party be formed to truly represent the middle 80% of the population in the United States? This series of actions has obviously gone beyond the scope of policy differences and directly challenged Trumps leadership of the Republican Party in terms of political stance.
Trumps response was also unambiguous. He posted several times on June 5, saying that Musk bored me and he was crazy, and mocked his criticism of the bill only because it cancelled subsidies for electric vehicles. He accused Musk of knowing about the bill months ago and now turning against him, which was purely ungrateful. Trump further threatened that the easiest way to save the budget was to terminate all contracts and subsidies between Musks companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink and the government, which would save billions of dollars for the treasury.
Musk quickly hit back, saying bluntly: Without me, Trump would not have won the election. He said that it was his support during the 2024 election that enabled the Republican Party to retain its majority in the Senate, otherwise the Democrats would have taken full control of Congress long ago.
Musk even further hinted that if Trump continues to destroy the new energy industry and technology companies, he will not hesitate to promote the establishment of a new political party to compete with him.
On the same day, the U.S. stock market also felt the shock of this conflict. Teslas stock price plummeted by more than 14% during the trading session, and its market value evaporated by $150 billion. Investors were worried that Trump would really use presidential power to cut off the governments resource channels to Musks business empire, including Teslas policy support, government contracts, and even SpaceXs aerospace projects.
However, the most impactful outbreak occurred on June 6. In the early morning, Musk dropped a nuclear bomb-level tweet on the X platform, deciding to break this political relationship in the most intense and extreme way: Trump appeared in Epsteins documents, which is why the documents have not been made public.
This was the most damaging blow in the entire dispute. The social platform was flooded with Trump-Epstein overnight, and Musks tweet was forwarded millions of times. Then, Musk forwarded a popular tweet calling for impeachment of Trump and replacement of JD Vance as president.
Faced with such fierce attacks, Trump still chose to return to his strong point - policy propaganda. He once again claimed that the Beautiful Bill is the greatest tax cut and spending reduction bill in American history and that if the bill is not passed, US taxes will rise by 68%. He added: I dont care if Musk opposes me.
The dispute started with a spending bill, but eventually spread to election credits, business contracts, federal subsidies, and even historical documents involving sex scandals. Looking at todays century quarrel, who would have thought that these two political allies were once so close that they wore the same tie.
As early as before the 2024 US presidential election, Musk invested 259 million US dollars, mobilized all Silicon Valley resources, and endorsed with his personal influence to support Trump.
Musk says his love for Trump is the most love a straight man can give to another man
Musk wore a tie that was lent to him by Trump when he attended Trumps joint speech to Congress
At Trumps third cabinet meeting, Musk wore a red hat with the words Everything Trump does is right written on it. Unfortunately, he will probably never wear it again.
In return, when Musk was attacked by the crowd, Trump held a 30-minute press conference for him in the White House driveway and test-drove five different types and colors of Tesla cars.
Thats the one I like, Trump pointed to a bright red Model S that cost about $80,000, and said he would write a check for $80,000 to buy it in full. At the time, Trump also called Musk an absolute patriot and he never asked me for anything.
After Trump was confirmed to have won the election, the Trump family returned to the White House and took a group photo at the door. Trump enthusiastically called Musk to take a family photo together, which can be called the settlement scene of the Winners Alliance.
During this period, the two were close comrades who were committed to promoting reform. Trump needed a sharp blade to expand his territory, and Musk needed a platform to realize his political ambitions. The two were highly consistent in their goals and interests.
Until the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Why does Musk hate the Big Beautiful Act?
On the surface, the Big Beautiful Act is a comprehensive budget and policy bill created by the Trump administration to make America great again, but in reality it is an almost sweeping fiscal restructuring operation.
This bill is not only intended to continue and expand the tax cuts implemented during Trumps tenure in 2017 and promote the reduction of federal spending, but also has a strong political and ideological color - it cuts off all green policy resources and completely deviates from some of the consensus in the United States in recent years on new energy, environmental protection and technological innovation.
And this is exactly the part Musk hates the most.
Musks initial anger came from the cancellation of the electric vehicle tax credit. This policy has been an important pillar for Teslas sales competitiveness in the United States. The new bill cancels the maximum $7,500 electric vehicle purchase tax credit for consumers, directly weakening Teslas price appeal.
However, what made Musk even more furious was another item in the bill: the abolition of the carbon credits system - this would not be a weakening but a fatal blow to Tesla.
For a long time, Tesla has not only made money by selling cars, but its real secret weapon for profitability is carbon credits. According to current U.S. policy, every time Tesla produces and sells a zero-emission electric vehicle, it can obtain a carbon emission credit. Traditional car companies that produce fuel vehicles and exceed emission standards (such as General Motors, Chrysler, etc.) must purchase these credits from Tesla to meet the governments annual emission compliance requirements. These credits can be said to be a money printing machine under the policy, which continuously delivers cash to Tesla.
In the first quarter of 2025, Tesla earned $595 million in revenue just by selling these carbon credits, while its net profit in the same period was only $409 million. In other words, without these green credits, Teslas profit figures on the financial report would directly reverse and show a loss.
And this is not a short-term phenomenon. It will be the case throughout 2024. Teslas main automotive operations are loss-making, but investors are comforted by the appearance of overall profitability. The biggest buffer among them is carbon credits.
Therefore, when the Big Beautiful Act decided to cut off this mechanism, Musks lifeline was cut off, and it would be difficult for him to continue to hide the loss of his main business in the financial report.
Once it loses this implicit support, Tesla will drop directly from the list of most profitable car companies - and most of Musks wealth is strongly tied to the market value of his holdings in Tesla, and Musks net worth may collapse as a result.
Musk paid $100 billion for Trump
For Musk, he has paid enough.
First, Musk is the largest individual political donor in the 2024 US election, donating approximately $288 million to Trump and the Republican candidates he supports.
The bigger loss came from the evaporation of Teslas market value. On June 6, Musks public quarrel with Trump caused Teslas stock price to plummet by 14.3%, and its market value evaporated by about $150 billion.
A report on June 1 this year showed that Musks net worth was US$383.6 billion, of which he held approximately 13% of Teslas shares. Therefore, of the US$150 billion market value loss, Musks direct loss was approximately US$19.5 billion.
Musks current net worth is estimated to be $364.1 billion, compared to $486 billion on December 30, 2024. Musk has paid more than $100 billion for the president he helped to elect.
In addition to money, Musk also paid other tributes to Trump. For example, Musk fired federal employees from government agencies on a large scale while working at DOGE, which offended many people.
This has led to a nationwide wave of vandalism of Tesla vehicles, intimidation of owners, and protests at dealerships. Tesla factories have been met with peaceful demonstrations and acts of vandalism, including fires at charging stations. There has also been a surge in Cybertruck vandalism across the United States, with some owners even graffitiing their Tesla cars in protest of Musk.
Musk has also repeatedly said that it is very difficult for him to run his business, and Teslas stock price has experienced its worst drop in five years.
In addition to Tesla, Musks other major business empire, SpaceX, has also not been left out. Although this space technology company has indeed won a large number of NASA contracts in recent years and has become the new main force of the US space program.
But some hawkish politicians have hinted that if Musk continues to openly challenge national policies and even incite divisions within the party, the topic of whether to consider nationalizing SpaceX will no longer be just a joke.
This is also why Musk is so vehemently opposed to this bill.
Musk, who paid such a high price, launched a thorough counterattack. He not only blasted the bill for bankrupting the United States, but also quoted Trumps past remarks on social platforms to satirize his self-contradiction, and even supported impeaching Trump and replacing him with JD Vance. Even more shocking is that he publicly threw out the Trump name accusation in Epsteins documents, officially pulling this confrontation from the financial battlefield to the field of morality and public opinion.
This big, beautiful bill has become the breakup agreement of their political marriage.
