U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press match within the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Donald Trump and Elon Musk appeared inseparable now not see you later in the past: attending occasions in combination, doing joint interviews and showering praises on every different. All that modified in a single day.
Trump and Musk traded barbs in a somewhat public feud, with the U.S. president threatening to pull again billions of bucks in govt contracts for Musk’s firms, whilst the Tesla CEO recommended Trump may just now not have gained the election with out him.
The hostilities started when Trump lashed out at Musk’s complaint of the Republican tax-cut and spending invoice, and temporarily escalated into an all-out on-line brawl on Trump’s Truth Social and Musk’s X, with outstanding businessmen, analysts and political names weighing in at the struggle.
Tech and political
Billionaire Bill Ackman on Thursday instructed Trump and Musk to forestall combating. The two males must “make peace for the benefit of our country,” Ackman mentioned on X.
The founder and leader government of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, who had counseled Trump a couple of months prior to the November election, mentioned “We are much stronger together than apart,” with Musk replying: “You’re not wrong.”
U.S. Congressman Jim Jordan advised Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Thursday that he was hoping Elon Musk and Trump would reconcile, whilst protecting the price range invoice.
Others in Trump’s orbit, akin to former senior Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who has clashed with Musk in fresh months, had been much less conciliatory.
Bannon mentioned on his “War Room Live” display Thursday that Trump must signal an government order to take regulate of SpaceX, thru a countrywide safety mobilization legislation referred to as the Defense Production Act.
“The U.S. government should seize it,” Bannon mentioned, including that the management must strip Musk of his safety clearance and droop all federal contracts to Musk’s firms, pending an investigation into them.
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban reputedly counseled a suggestion from Musk, who had polled fans on whether or not to “create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle.”
Former Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang reposted Cuban, later pitching an “Independent ’28 presidential primary” with contributors together with Mark Cuban, Jamie Dimon, and actor Matthew McConaughey .
Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer said in a publish on X that “Trump is more powerful than elon, but far less competent.”
Tesla pundits
Wall Street buyers dumped Tesla stocks, sending them plummeting over 14%.
Dan Ives, managing director and senior fairness analysis analyst at Wedbush mentioned in a analysis observe that the struggle was once “jaw dropping and a shock to the market,” growing primary concern for Tesla buyers.
“Tesla’s stock is under major pressure down 15% as investors fear that this Musk/Trump battle will stop their friendship and change the regulatory environment for Tesla on the autonomous front over the coming years under the Trump Administration,” Ives mentioned.
However, Ives added that the spat had now not modified Wedbush’s bullish view on Tesla, even though it “clearly does put a fly in the ointment of the Trump regulatory framework going forward.”
Another Tesla-bull, Ross Gerber, head of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, had harsh phrases for Musk in a sequence of X posts, declaring that Elon was once “now attacking all the people he helped put in power.”
“Elon going postal on Trump and tesla stock is getting walloped. Trump will be returning his new tesla and is saying he got musked. All this can’t be good for shareholders. But hey, who cares about us,” he mentioned in a publish.
Gary Black, Future Fund’s Managing Director, who just lately mentioned on X that this company had offered all its Tesla stocks, argued that Trump and Elon’s feud would put additional power at the inventory, taking purpose at Tesla bulls.
“These same bulls argued for months that the Musk-Trump alliance would streamline the federal process allowing TSLA to secure general unsupervised autonomy license nationally. That prospect is now highly unlikely,” he mentioned in an X publish.
David Rosenberg, president and founding father of Rosenberg Research believes Musk’s SpaceX supplies an enormous lead in for America’s dominance in house era and the continuing feud may just erode its strengthen.
“There’s a small group of Republicans that are unsure about that for various reasons, and many of them have cited Elon Musk’s opposition to that [spending] bill as a reason that they will not vote for it. So the politics of what Musk is doing may actually be the most significant part of that,” Rosenberg advised CNBC’s Squawk Box.