After long months when Donald Trump and Elon Musk appeared united in their chaotic mission to remake Washington, their relationship imploded this week.

Elon and I had a great relationship,” the president said, referring to his former DOGE chief and campaign donor. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”

Musk and Trump, ostensibly political allies over cuts to federal spending, publicly clashed on June 5 in a series of exchanges across social media and in comments to reporters. The origin of the dispute is the impact Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill has on U.S. public debt.

The activists behind the Tesla Takedown campaign say they intend to expand beyond protests at the company’s showrooms.

Elon Musk's tenure as a White House employee is over. His time in the political spotlight is probably not.

Over the past few months Musk had been one of Trump's closest political allies spending $292 million to support him and other Republicans during the 2024 presidential election, providing vocal support on his social media platform X and heading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which he left at the end of May.

Carl Higbie called the fractured relationship between the billionaire and the president a "really crappy scenario."

Elon Musk has publicly condemned Donald Trump’s signature economic plan, calling the “One Big Beautiful Bill” an “abomination” and accusing it of undoing the cost-cutting work achieved by his Department of Government Efficiency.