Why Is Elon Musk Mad at Trump? The World Is Watching as the "White House Bromance" Dissolves

The world's most powerful "bromance" seems to be coming to an end. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have worked together for nearly two years, seemingly in lockstep on their agenda in Washington and through the power of the White House.

However, their friendship seems to have soured.

Elon first lashed out by criticizing Trump, and Trump is now hitting back, with the two trading barbs on their respective social media platforms. So why is Elon so mad at Trump? Here's what we know about their devolving professional friendship, the root cause of the rift, and why people are suspicious about all of the attention the duo is drawing to their feud.

The breakdown between the duo started when Trump pushed the House of Representatives to pass what he is calling his "Big Beautiful Bill," a budget bill that has a lot of earmarked projects and cuts that benefit Trump, his cohorts, and many wealthy colleagues.

Musk fired the first warning shot across the bow on June 3, 2025, when he called the bill a "disgusting abomination," and criticized Trump for undoing his work as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) (via APNews).

Trump didn't immediately respond, seemingly brushing off Musk's criticism. But by June 5, everything changed.

Trump clapped back lightly, telling White House reporters that he was "disappointed" in Musk's criticism. He added, "Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore" (via the BBC).

This seems to have added fuel to Elon's fire of anger.

Elon's frustration with Trump's bill seems to be due to the fact that it threatens to undo all of the supposed progress DOGE has made in clawing back incremental dollars from the bloated U.S. deficit. Elon made lofty promises about cutting the deficit, failed to deliver the majority of it (via Newsweek), and left Washington in late May at the end of his special employee tenure, seemingly frustrated.

Now, with the "Big Beautiful Bill" promising to explode the deficit (per CRFB), Elon is coming out swinging, and Trump can't seem to keep up.

Now, there appears to be an all-out war between the former political powers, who once held a tenuous truce. Elon escalated the war of words on X (formerly Twitter) by declaring that Trump would have lost the 2024 election without him. He went on to suggest, "Dems would control the House." Elon scolded, "such ingratitude."

Trump then took to Truth Social to swing back, writing that Elon was "wearing thin" in Washington and that Trump asked him to leave. He added that Elon went "CRAZY" after being asked to leave. Trump also posted on Truth that the "easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts."

Elon, unsurprisingly, didn't take well to this seeming threat.

After taking shots at House Speaker Mike Johnson over the "Big Beautiful Bill" and once again offering scathing criticism of the bill, pointing out times in the past when Trump himself has called for a balanced budget as a requirement for Congressional and Presidential office holders, Elon stepped it up a notch and made things very, very personal.

Elon said it was time to "drop the really big bomb." He explained on X, "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public." He went on to add that people should watch the platform for more information, warning, "The truth will come out." It should be noted that, for now, Elon's claim remains unsubstantiated.

Of course, not everyone is convinced that everything is as it seems. Some on social media have suggested that it's all a big distraction, perhaps following rumbles that Trump's cohort Peter Thiel is organizing a database containing information on all U.S. citizens using his Palantir software (via Newsweek).

But whatever the truth, the dramatic breakdown between Musk and Trump appears to be a major public spectacle that could hold dire implications for either party if they choose to spill the beans. Undoubtedly, if any significant amount of damaging information exists on either of them, they likely have that information on one another as two of the most powerful entities in the world.

This is an ongoing story, and we expect escalating developments to continue.