An intense public feud erupted this week between President Donald Trump and his one-time ally, billionaire Elon Musk, with an argument about Trump’s massive tax and domestic policy bill raging across social media and in the Oval Office.
Tensions began rising on Tuesday, when Musk blasted what Trump calls his “big, beautiful bill” as a “disgusting abomination,” surprising Republican leaders.
But the billionaire escalated the fight on Thursday when he began sharing years-old comments from Trump and other Republican lawmakers raising concerns about US government spending and the deficit.
Throughout Thursday and Friday morning, Trump and other prominent figures from the president and the tech leader’s respective orbits joined in. Trump even raised the idea of terminating contracts the government holds with Musk’s companies.
The dispute signals just how much and how quickly the relationship between Trump and the world’s richest man has broken down because of disagreement over the bill. Musk was, up until recently, a staunch supporter of the president and near-constant figure in the White House. In an event honoring his foal exit from government work last week, Musk said he would remain “a friend and an advisor” to the Trump administration.
Here’s a timeline of the first 72 hours of the feud:
June 3
1:31 PM ET
Musk posts that the “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.”
June 4
2:07 am ET
Musk claims the budget bill would “defeat all the cost savings achieved” by DOGE.
1:59 pm ET
Trump posts an image on Truth of Musk’s post announcing he’s leaving government.
June 5
10:52 am ET
Musk shares post claiming “majority” of Republican voters want the budget bill “trimmed down,” adding “Yes.”
11:20 am ET
Musk shares old Trump post criticizing Republican lawmakers for raising the debt ceiling, adding “wise words.”
11:46 am ET
Musk reposts an old Trump post saying “no member of Congress should be eligible for reelection” if the US budget isn’t balanced, with Musk adding “I couldn’t agree more.”
12:01 pm ET
Trump confirms the deterioration of his relationship with Musk, saying he was “very disappointed” in the tech billionaire after he repeatedly blasted the president’s sweeping domestic agenda bill. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office, less than one week after the two exchanged effusive praise on Musk’s last day as a special government employee.
12:10 pm ET
Musk posts “Slim Beautiful Bill for the win.”
12:19 pm ET
Musk posts that he would support a “slim” bill that included EV incentive cuts.
12:25 pm ET
Musk disputes Trump’s claim that Musk reviewed the budget bill, saying he was not shown the bill “even once.”
12:46 pm ET
Musk claims that without him, Trump would have lost the election.
12:46 pm ET
In a follow-up post, Musk says “such ingratitude.”
1:38 pm ET
Musk reposts video from Trump’s promotion of Tesla at the White House earlier this year, during which the president said Musk “never asked me for a thing.”
1:42 pm ET
Musk encourages lawmakers to “Keep the EV/solar incentives cuts in the bill,” but also “cut all the crazy spending increases.”
1:44 pm ET
Musk posts claim that budget bill will increase US deficit to $2.5 trillion.
1:48 pm ET
Musk posts “Kill Bill.”
1:57 pm ET
Musk starts X poll asking if America needs a new political party.
2:10 pm ET
Musk shared a video of him in 2021 claiming Tesla doesn’t rely on EV subsidies.
2:16 pm ET
Musk responds to post from Laura Loomer suggesting that lawmakers should side with him in budget bill fight because “Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years.”
2:20 pm ET
The mother of one of Musk’s children, right-leaning influencer Ashley St. Clair, offers Trump “breakup advice.”
2:21 pm ET
Musk shared an old X post from House Speaker Mike Johnson raising concern about US national debt and said “Where is the Mike Johnson 2023!?”
2:23 pm ET
Musk claims members of Congress didn’t have time to read the budget bill.
2:25 pm ET
Musk posted an video of Sen. John Thune from 2020 raising concern about US debt, with the billionaire adding, “Where is the John Thune of 2020??”
2:30 pm ET
Musk reposts X post from a Jerome Powell parody account asking whether Musk or Trump is right.
2:35 pm ET
Musk reposts another old post from Johnson calling on Congress to reduce deficit spending, with the billionaire adding, “I super agree with this guy.”
2:36 pm ET
Musk posts that Congress is “spending America into bankruptcy.”
2:37 pm ET
Trump claims he asked Musk to leave the administration and took away his “his EV mandate,” after which he alleges Musk “just went CRAZY!”
2:37 pm ET
Trump posts that the US government could save billions of dollars in its budget by terminating the contracts and subsidies awarded to Musk’s companies.
2:48 pm ET
Musk refutes Trump’s claim that his disagreement with the “big, beautiful bill” is related to EVs.
Such an obvious lie. So sad. https://t.co/sOu9vqMVfX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
3:10 pm ET
Musk claims Trump is “in” the Jeffrey Epstein files.
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!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
3:20 pm ET
Follow-up Musk X post claims “the truth will come out.”
Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
3:33 pm ET
Ye, the rapper also known as Kanye West, weighs in.
3:45 pm ET
House Speaker Mike Johnson hits back at Musk’s criticism and defends the budget bill.
4:06 pm ET
Trump complains about the timing of Musk’s fight in the middle of the administration’s effort to pass his policy bill in Congress.
4:09 pm ET
Musk threatens to decommission the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that returned NASA astronauts from the International Space Station.
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
4:11 pm ET
Musk agrees with X user calling for Trump’s impeachment.
Yes https://t.co/rqRsX8B4H
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
4:15 pm ET
Tesla’s stock plunged around 14% Thursday, erasing about $150 billion off the company’s market value.
4:26 pm ET
Musk claims Trump’s tariffs will cause recession.
4:43 pm ET
Musk shares a video showing Trump at a party with Epstein, along with a raised eyebrow emoji.
5:30 pm ET
Musk shows support for a post by billionaire investor Bill Ackman that urged Musk and Trump to “make peace.” Musk says Ackman is “not wrong.”
6:48 pm ET
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt calls Musk’s claim that President Donald Trump is “in the Epstein files” an “unfortunate episode” in a statement Thursday night.
“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,” Leavitt told CNN in a statement.
9:20 PM ET
Musk walks back his threat to decommission the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which takes NASA astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station.
9:21 PM ET
Musk says that “if America goes broke, nothing else matters” while sharing a clip from an interview he did in February talking about the country’s national debt.
June 6
2:58 AM ET
Musk responds to an X post that said there is “no political will” within the main political parties to cut US government spending or debt levels. He says: “True so far.”
7:09 AM ET
Tesla’s stock listed on Germany’s Frankfurt Stock Exchange rises 4.7% after nosediving by more than 14% in both Frankfurt and New York the previous day.
8:21 am ET
President Donald Trump told CNN Friday he is “not even thinking about” billionaire Elon Musk and won’t be speaking to him in the near future.
“I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem,” Trump told CNN’s Dana Bash.
