President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump threatened to cut Elon Musk’s government contracts as their fractured alliance rapidly escalated into a public feud Thursday.
Hours after Trump lamented his breakup with Musk and said he was “disappointed” in his former backer and adviser and Musk responded on social media, Trump escalated the feud by threatening to use the U.S. government to hurt Musk’s bottom line.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote on his social media network. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
As President Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office on Thursday with Germany’s leader, he lamented his soured relationship with Elon Musk, his adviser-turned-social media antagonist. Trump said he was “very disappointed” with Musk after the billionaire former backer lambasted the president’s signature bill of tax cuts and spending plans.
“Whatever,” Musk wrote on his social media platform while responding to Trump in real time.
Musk later offered up an especially stinging insult to a president sensitive about his standing among voters: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk retorted. “Such ingratitude,” Musk said in a follow-up post.
Politicians and their donor patrons rarely see eye to eye. But the magnitude of Musk’s support for Trump, spending at least $250 million backing his campaign, and the scope of free reign the president gave him to slash and delve into the government with the Department of Government Efficiency is eclipsed only by the speed of their falling out.
