ADVERTISEMENTDonald Trump and Elon Musk’s friendship is seemingly coming to an end after the tech billionaire pushed back against the US president’s divisive One Big Beautiful Bill Act – which he called a “disgusting abomination”.
Despite public support for one another, Musk’s role in Trump’s election campaign and his previous (and incredibly controversial) position as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the bromance came crashing down due to the aforementioned bill, which proposes a range of tax cuts and changes to social programs that Musk claims would “burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt”.
Trump publicly said that he was “very disappointed with Elon”, claiming the former DOGE head “knew the inner workings” of the Big Beautiful Bill “better than anybody” and had “no problem with it” until he realised that the government was “going to cut the (electric vehicle) mandate”.
Musk responded: “False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”
The increasingly explosive fallout continued with Trump threatening to cut Elon’s government contracts, including with Tesla and SpaceX, and claimed that the CEO was “crazy”.
“Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Musk promptly hit back, claiming that the President would have lost the election without his contributions to the campaign. He also agreed with an X user that Trump should be impeached. “Such ingratitude,” he added.
The came the bombshell X post on Thursday, in which Musk alleged that Trump had shared a long friendship with convicted abuser and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrup is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.” “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out,” Musk added in a follow-up post.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed his claims in a statement, saying: “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.”
As to be expected, the entertainment world has been reacting to this swiftly escalating public feud.
Among the first people to react to the ongoing feud was Kanye ‘Ye’ West, who has publicly and controversially aligned himself with Trump and Musk countless times before.
“Broooos please nooooo We love you both so much,” he posted on X.
Piers Morgan reacted to Musk’s claims that Trump is in the Epstein File with a “Holy Shit”, before offering both men a platform to “duke this out for a few hours”.
“BBB actually stands for Big Beautiful Breakup,” commented right-wing activist Laura Loomer, while conspiracy theorist Alex Jones wrote: “God Help Us ALL….” after Musk’s accusation.
Steve Bannon, a right-wing activist who has opposed Musk’s role in the government, took things up a notch by telling the New York Times that Musk should be “deported” and that the government should “initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status.”
Elsewhere, popular politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered her take when asked about the feud: “Oh man, the girls are fighting, aren’t they?”
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff joked on X: “Going to need a Big Beautiful Bucket of popcorn for this ugly brawl.”
Comedian, writer and TV host Jon Stewart wrote: “Good thing Trump didn’t willfully hand over the entirety of our country’s operating system to Elon and his… oops.”
As for celebrated musician Jack White, who has consistently been critical of both Trump and Musk – he wrote in response to Kanye West’s post: “3 fucking nazi clowns collapsing under the weight of their own unchecked egos. More popcorn gruppenfuehrer! L to R: Joseph Noballs, Yedolf Hitler, and Herman Boring. Is America “Great” yet boys?”
Another notable reaction came from Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk’s estranged transgender daughter.
Wilson posted a short video of herself with the caption “I love being proven right.”
She also posted a photo on Threads with the song “Job Application” by Chase Icon and the caption, “Such beauty in life.”
