Thursday, a bomb exploded between U.S. President Donald Trump and his former partner Elon Musk. The simmering conflict between the most powerful man in the world and the richest has become a blazing row. The accusations are as spicy as they are risky.
A selection of Trump’s accusations, reproaches, and fabrications towards Musk: the billionaire allegedly got “shaking knees” from his work at the American Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and was therefore sent away. Musk would be angry about the elimination of tax benefits for electric cars, including his Teslas. And perhaps Trump’s government should scrap Musk’s government contracts. That would yield billions in savings.
The billionaire himself countered almost immediately each time. Trump could not have won the elections without the support of the Tesla top executive. The “ungrateful” Trump would have spread lies. And regarding the revocation of government contracts: Musk said that Trump should mainly put his money where his mouth is.
The businessman himself wasted no time. Musk said on X that his space company SpaceX will immediately stop with the space capsules that man and supply the International Space Station ISS. The company is also active for the American Department of Defense. For example, SpaceX helps to launch defense satellites into space.
As the icing on the cake, Musk claimed that the president’s name is mentioned in the so-called secret Epstein documents. He provided no evidence for this. The documents refer to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019, who was accused of large-scale abuse of young girls and women.
Epstein had ties with many (famous) people. “The truth will come out,” Musk said in an equally cryptic and threatening message on X.
Musk got acquainted with the reality of Washington at DOGE
The blazing row is as fierce as it is predictable, experts tell NU.nl. “Two powerful people with big egos and a volatile personality ultimately do what is good for themselves,” says Andrew Gawthorpe, a historian specializing in the United States at Leiden University and author of the newsletter America Explained.
“Such a collaboration stops when one of the two no longer benefits from it,” adds Jack Thompson. He is a historian at the University of Amsterdam and specializes in the US.
According to Gawthorpe, Musk has recently become acquainted with the harsh reality of politics in Washington. “He truly believes in the usefulness and necessity of a small government. And he was convinced that shrinking that government was possible via DOGE,” says Gawthorpe.
Trump, on the other hand, is a man with few political convictions, the historian continues. Except that he doesn’t like to disappoint people. For example, his supporters, who were afraid of the effect of DOGE on their benefits. But the president also likes to keep rich supporters and business partners happy. Hence the tax cuts in Trump’s economic plan.
“That attitude will have felt like betrayal to Musk,” says Gawthorpe. The billionaire then expressed criticism about Trump’s plan, also called the ‘big beautiful bill’. That will go wrong one day, adds Thompson. “For Trump, loyalty comes above everything.”
‘Putin shows that political power trumps economic power’
The big question is how the row will end. White House officials reportedly held feverish consultations on Thursday evening to limit the damage from the conflict between Trump and Musk as much as possible, sources tell news agency Reuters. Because the impact is potentially enormous.
“Trump has shown that he is not afraid to use the power of the presidency. And to stretch it to the limit of what is possible,” says Thompson. “That can make Musk a target. The struggle of Russian President Vladimir Putin against the oligarchs in Russia shows that political power usually trumps economic power in such a case.”
Thompson and Gawthorpe therefore state that Musk is vulnerable. For example, the experts suspect that the billionaire stopped at DOGE because the image of his car brand Tesla and thus the sales started to suffer.
Musk now seems to have to directly sit out the consequences after the row. Tesla ended Thursday more than 14 percent lower on the stock exchange in New York. The price drop corresponds to more than 100 billion dollars (more than 87 billion euros) in evaporated market value.
Musk will eventually have to lower his tone
On the other hand, Musk has deep pockets. Moreover, with his support for Trump, he has shown that he lets his money roll when necessary. “Politicians remain sensitive to that. Campaigning in the US is simply enormously costly,” says Gawthorpe.
Yet Thompson expects that Musk will eventually have to lower his tone. “He has the means to stir up the fire, but that will ultimately prove to be a kamikaze act.” According to the historian, Trump is someone who also likes to extinguish such a fire.
In the night from Thursday to Friday, Musk already indicated that he would be open to a cooling-off period in the feud. Billionaire Bill Ackman, an ally of both Trump and Musk, wrote on X that they “must make peace for the benefit of our great country”. Musk responded: “You’re not wrong.”