Trump-Musks spectacular split minute-by-minute: How president and First Buddy’s friendship unraveled online
Just last week, President Donald Trump was handing his friend and close aide Elon Musk a golden key to the White House, praising the work the tech billionaire had done for the administration.
“Elon gave an incredible service. There’s nobody like him,” Trump said in a joint press conference with Musk last week.
That press conference was to mark the end of Musk’s time as a special government advisor, leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
For the latest updates on the feud read our blog here
Although there had been some disagreements during Musk’s 130 days in the role – the Tesla owner made it clear he was not a fan of Trump’s tariffs – it seemed to mark a conciliatory end to their working relationship.
But there were rumblings: Musk, whose whole purpose at Doge had been cutting federal government spending, was deeply opposed to Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
And while White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt had been able to play that difference of opinion off as healthy debate for a while, everything came to a head on Thursday.
Here’s a timeline of how the very public fight between Trump and Musk unfolded.
Writing on X, Musk says: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
He continued: “He added: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America (sic) citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
Two days later, things escalated dramatically.
In an Oval Office appearance, Trump said he was “very disappointed” by Musk’s comments.
“Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here,” Trump told reporters. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”
Trump added he “would have won Pennsylvania easily anyway,” without Musk’s help.
