On Thursday evening, the mutual back-slapping turned into a full-on war of words, as Musk revealed the unsubstantiated allegation that Trump appeared in the court files of America’s most notorious paedophile and sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump had not publicly criticised his former “First Buddy”, and Musk just about kept away from personal attacks on the man he backed with $288m of his own money in last November’s presidential race.
“Time to drop the really big bomb,” wrote Musk on his social media platform X, adding that Trump “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”
Donald Trump threatened to revoke government contracts from Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX as the public feud escalated (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty)
One question circulating Washington is what caused Musk to go nuclear? Why did he escalate a political disagreement over Trump’s budget bill to personal attack?
Earlier this week, a report from The New York Times raised concerns over his drug use on the 2024 campaign trail. The newspaper reported Musk told people on the stump he was using ketamine so often that it impacted his bladder, along with using psychedelic mushrooms and taking ecstasy.
One man who knows all about falling out with Trump, believes it was this leak that may have caused Musk’s outburst.
Did Musk quit, or was he pushed?
Happier recent times: Elon Musk receives a golden key from Donald Trump in the Oval Office after leaving his government role (Photo: Nathan Howard/Reuters)Trump himself suggested another reason for Musk’s antagonism was that he was sulking after being fired from his role at Doge.
But his patience broke following Musk’s posts on Thursday night, which also included a poll on whether he should launch a third political party that “represents the 80 per cent in the middle”, a threat to withdraw Space X from the Nasa space programme and a claim that Trump’s tarrifs will send the US into recession in the second half of this year.
In an unusual twist, Scaramucci agrees with his former boss even though he was fired after just 10 days as the White House press secretary.
Tesla shares slumped to their worst ever single day performance as Donald Trump and Elon Musk attacked each other (Photo: Liu Junfeng/VCG via Getty Images)
“Godzilla is leaving the city in ruins”, is how public sector expert Max Stier described Musk’s exit from Doge.
Stier’s claims the actions of world’s wealthiest person during his 129 days at in the budget slashing department is akin to “arson”.
Initially, Musk claimed he would save as much as $2tn a year from public sector budgets, but later halved this pledge. In the end, the cost-cutting did not reach anywhere near that level before Musk departed the government.
So far, more than 75,000 federal workers have agreed to a form of buyout called deferred retirement, but they will remain on government payrolls until later this year.
Elon Musk pictured holding a chainsaw during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 20, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Katie Drummond, global editorial director of tech media brand Wired, is convinced that even this figure is being overplayed by the administration.
For Stier, however, the question is how real any of these savings are and their impact on everyday Americans.
‘It’s been a true nightmare’
“Well, now you can’t drive anywhere, and now you have, you have to sit around in the dark.
There are those that believe Musk used his role in Doge to further his own business interests. Drummond, who has reported on the man throughout his rise to incredible wealth, is not one of them.
For now, though, it appears the priority for Musk is to rebuild his reputation among his investors and customers. Stier is not so sure he can, but hopes he tries.
“He owes this country and our society his damnedest to fix things that he is broken.” The White House and Elon Musk did not respond to a requests for comment.
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