Force majeure: Musk and Trump publicly quarreled on social networks

The close friendship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has turned into an open feud and a public showdown. The billionaire was the first to attack, attacking the new draft of the American budget. Trump did not reach into his pocket for a word, threatening to save money in the budget by canceling all government contracts with the entrepreneur. There was no stopping Musk: he "dropped a real bomb," saying that the head of state appeared in the so-called "Epstein files." About how one step happened from love to hate — in the material of Izvestia.

The mask is gone

A bone of contention in the relationship between the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency DOGE, Elon Musk, and US President Donald Trump has become a new draft of the US budget, proposed personally by the president. The Head of state called it "A big, beautiful bill." The billionaire disagreed with this description, considering the initiative to be a "disgusting abomination" and "outrageous piggishness," calling for it to be redone.

Another incident also added fuel to the fire. The entrepreneur actively lobbied for the candidacy of Jared Isaakman to head NASA, but the American leader suddenly withdrew his candidacy.

Musk complained that he had wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on Donald Trump's re-election. "Without me, Trump would have lost the election, the Democrats would control the House of Representatives, and the Republicans would have 51-49 in the Senate. What an ingratitude," he wrote on his social network.

The US president did not remain silent, attacking his former colleague with counter criticism. Trump wrote that Musk was angry because the administration stopped subsidizing the automotive industry, in which the Tesla owner has his own interests, and threatened to deprive the billionaire of government support.

"The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to end government subsidies and contracts with Ilon. I've always wondered why [former US President Joseph] Biden didn't do it!" the head of state retorted on his Truth Social network.

The President added that he would prefer criticism of his address to attacks on the draft budget, because "the bill is incredible." According to him, Elon "just went crazy" when Trump asked him to resign from the government.

After that remark, the situation was already out of control. The billionaire decided that it was time to "drop a real bomb," and wrote that Donald Trump appeared in the so—called "Epstein files," documents from financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of trafficking minors for sexual exploitation and inducing them into prostitution. According to Musk, "this is the real reason why the files were never published."

He did not provide any evidence of his words, instead he made a repost of a video with the US president at Epstein's party in 1992. The entrepreneur did not stop there, saying that his company SpaceX would stop operating the Dragon spacecraft.

Currently, this is the only US ship with which NASA can deliver astronauts to the ISS without resorting to the help of Russian Soyuz. The agency's representative, however, assured that NASA "will continue to fulfill the goals of the US president in the field of space."

Meanwhile, the Mask was being carried further and further away. He launched an online survey on the need to create a "third party" in the United States. "Trump has 3.5 years left in office, and I will be here for more than 40 years..." he hinted at the advanced age of the 47th American leader. He also said that he was all for impeachment of the head of state, and Vice President Jay Dee Vance took his place.

Stocks have fallen

Amid the public showdown with Trump, shares of Tesla, owned by Musk, fell by more than 15% or $150 billion in three hours. The value of the securities reached a record low in four weeks, they were trading 40% below their all-time high set in December. In this regard, the entrepreneur has become impoverished by $ 26.7 billion. Now his fortune is estimated at $388 billion, although he remains the richest man on the planet.

During Trump's election campaign and at the beginning of his second presidential term, Musk was his loyal colleague — the entrepreneur donated over $250 million to the Republican's campaign headquarters.

Immediately after Trump's return to the White House, the billionaire took over the post of head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), whose goal was to reduce budget spending, including by firing "ineffective" officials.

The American media called Musk "the main unelected leader in the world," believing that he was actually the second leader in the White House after Trump. However, his activities at the head of DOGE have attracted serious criticism, both from Democrats and some Republicans.

Since the end of March, they have stopped mentioning each other on social media, and on May 30, Elon Musk announced his resignation as head of DOGE, his decision was explained by the fact that this position cannot be held for more than 130 days a year. On the same day, he gave a joint press conference with Trump, at which the entrepreneur and the president enthusiastically praised each other.

The American leader said goodbye to Musk in a solemn atmosphere, assuring that "Elon is not really going anywhere," and his "service to America is unparalleled in modern history." After that, he handed the billionaire a symbolic golden key with the White House emblem, hinting that he was always welcome here.

What do the experts think

Senator Alexei Pushkov noted that "the tandem that terrified ultra-liberals all over the world is no more."

"The scandalous rift between Trump and Musk is a severe blow to the Trump presidency. Perhaps Musk, who went wild, is primarily to blame for the conflict, but politically he will mainly hit Trump as president of the United States," the expert believes.

Former chief adviser to President Trump, Steve Bannon, in turn, questioned the legality of entrepreneur Elon Musk's stay in the country.

"They (Trump's office. We should officially check his immigration status, because I firmly believe that he is an illegal immigrant and should be deported from the country immediately," he said in an interview.

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Steve Bannon continues to be an influential ally of Trump, and also recommended investigating two incidents in which the billionaire was involved: investigating Musk's drug use and his attempts to obtain classified information on China from the Pentagon. The adviser also recommended that Trump terminate all technology contracts with Musk.

Fyodor Lukyanov, a political scientist and editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, believes that such a development in relations between Trump and Musk was quite expected.

"It's nice that in our unpredictable world there are things that are unchangeable and predictable. It was clear from the very beginning that two pronounced egocentric peacocks would not last long together. And so it turned out. There are firm rules," he explained.