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Taking stock of the Trump Musk breakup

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Over the last week, a public spat has caused seemingly irreparable damage to the relationship of arguably America’s two most powerful men. Beyond dented egos, what are we dealing with here?

No more octagon-side dates at the UFC for these two former chums then.

As quickly as the unnerving affinity grew between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, it has ended unceremoniously and likely irreparably. But how did the Tesla boss go from the biggest Republican wealth donor to being warned ‘be very careful’ by the President?

The plain answer, is that the so-called affinity of the two was built primarily on vested business and political interests. Shocking, I know.

The ‘First Buddy’ moniker given to Musk stood for very little once Trump announced the details of his administration’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’. This amalgamation of cuts to climate infrastructure and boosting of fossil fuel projects infuriated Musk, as the bill details plans to axe electric vehicle tax credits and subsidies for renewable energy.

This crusade is obviously at direct odds with Musk, whose Tesla empire is built on the pillars of both – not to mention Space X and SolarCity. Under previous regimes, Musk had campaigned fervently to have these government subsidies put in place and he’s outraged by the prospect of his masterplan being thrown on the coal fire.

Taking to his platform X last week, the tycoon scorned the President. ‘If Trump goes through with this, he should be impeached. This is a betrayal of the American future,’ he posted, effectively lighting the touchpaper of their bitter (and incredibly entertaining) feud.

Feeling unsated by his first jab, Musk then posted two tweets implicating Trump for apparently being in the infamous Jeffrey Epstein files. ‘Mark this post for the future, the truth will come out,’ he said. He then said Trump’s love of tariffs would cause a nationwide recession.

There were also various rumblings over June 3rd and 4th that Musk was considering ditching his Republican allegiance entirely, and financially boosting Democrat campaigns in order to have the renewable subsidies reinstated. It’s beyond shameless, but it got a rise out of Trump.

Firing back a day later on Truth Social, Trump said that musk had gone ‘CRAZY’ and warned of ‘very serious consequences’ should the former DOGE chief jump political ship or cause problems by withdrawing resources and funding from NASA. He doubled down a day later in an interview with ABC, underscoring that reconciliation between the two is off the table.

Cut to the present, and Musk is showing clear signals of retreat in the ego war. He deleted several inflammatory posts on social media and hinted at wanting peace in a reply to Perishing Square CEO Bill Akman. Today, his father has also been making the rounds in the mainstream saying his son’s outburst was the culmination of months of intense stress.

The damage is done, nonetheless. Musk has reportedly lost $34 billion in net worth over the feud, Tesla shares have tumbled dramatically (14%), and space-industry analysts are raising alarms about NASA and Space X contracts. DOGE staff are reportedly fearful of being in the firing line, quite literally, too.

The whole thing is reminiscent of toddlers falling out, but the real-world implications are legitimately frightening. I’d love to say we’re merely voyeurs with no horse in the race, but truthfully the zeal at which Trump is bulldozing renewable infrastructure and ecological protection reform is frightening.

We’re not about to lose sleep over two of the US’ most powerful political figures squabbling on social media, but if squashing the beef is the answer to slowing Trump’s unravelling of just about every green milestone his predecessors put in place, we’d prefer to make it so!

Musk would definitely enjoy that Star Trek reference.

Editor in Chief London, UK

I’m Jamie (He/Him), the Editor in Chief at Thred. Keeping up with gaming and revolutionary technology is my forte, but when away from my keyboard, you’ll probably find me wrapped around a large Tango ice blast at the latest mediocre horror flick. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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