In the process of laying off thousands of people, Elon Musk has escalated his battle with Donald Trump. He has made these serious allegations Trump resurfaced in records related to Epstein. These allegations appeared in tweets posted by Musk which he later deleted on Saturday morning. This timing hints at a significant personal and policy shift between these two influential actors. Only about a week ago they were singing each other’s praises.
Musk’s allegations claim that the reason behind the non-disclosure of Epstein-related files is Trump’s involvement. This announcement has sparked a national conversation. It follows closely on the heels of Musk’s announced resignation from his statutory position at the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. The last-minute, unexpected charges took everyone by surprise. With their rapid removal, however, questions have surfaced about Musk’s real intent.
In the opposite of a measured response, initially, Trump labeled Musk—wait for it—CRAZY. He suggested the option of terminating federal contracts related to Musk’s companies. This comes on the heels of last week’s joint press event at the White House on Friday, May 30th, 2025. Together, McMillan and O’Malley proved to be vigorous exemplars of the positive, collaborative dynamic.
Even the Republican Senator JD Vance weighed in, saying that Musk was making a “huge mistake” by going after Trump. Musk raised a few eyebrows last year when he liked a tweet calling for Trump’s impeachment. The post even floated Vice President JD Vance as a potential replacement.
We see how their relationship is clearly breaking down. Musk has been publicly critical of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” claiming that it leaves out necessary policies for addressing the future. In turn, this has amped up their online feud, which has disintegrated into a social media tussle characterized by personal insults and conspiratorial charges hurled back and forth.
“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.” – Karoline Leavitt
Industry insiders are already speculating about how this escalating public feud could harm both men’s ambitious business ventures. Both Musk’s and Trump’s companies now stand to see their government contracts slashed, a move that would send severe financial shockwaves through both of their companies.
Even with the Trump presidency consumed by the growing civil war, Trump is indeed proving to be a unique force on international issues. He intervened with Chinese authorities just recently to bring back U.S.-China tariff discussions. Meanwhile, Musk’s focus appears to be shifting towards his own grievances with Trump’s policies and statements.