United States

Musk-Trump: phone call today to seek peace after quarrel. And Tesla goes up

The rift between Trump and Musk intensifies with mutual accusations over the Epstein case, undermining their previous partnership

5 June 2025

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Donald Trumpe Elon Musk. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)

3' min read

Key points

Finished idyll between Trump and Musk
Musk and the new political party

3' min read

The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, explains to the White House on 5 June 2025 that he does not know whether there will be 'a great relationship' with Elon Musk anymore. DAfter having loved each other so much, for a year or so, Trump and Musk have come to a head-on clash, with the Tesla patron's fierce criticism of the US budget, the president's threats of retaliation over existing contracts, Musk's references to the Epstein case, and his counter-claim to create a political party.

"We had a great relationship, but I'm surprised, Elon disappointed me a lot," the US president told reporters during a appearance in the Oval Office alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Hearing his now former ally call him 'ungrateful' live on X - "Without me he wouldn't have won the election", thundered the Tesla owner, as the company's stock plummeted on Wall Street closing at over -14% - Trump went on the counter-attack.

In short, open clash after the two denied for days the disagreements behind Musk's departure from his role in government. The tycoon revealed that he had ousted him. And Elon, according to Trump, then 'freaked out'.

"Time to drop the biggest bombshell: Donald Trump is in Epstein's files. This is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, Djt!", Musk then recoiled. "Mark this post for future reference. The truth will come out," the Tesla patron added.

Finished the idyll between Trump and Musk

Gone is the idyll of the strange couple in the Oval Office: one at the head of the US superpower interpreted with increasingly 'imperial' formulas, the other at the head of an industrial galaxy inextricably linked to the executive thanks to billionaire contracts with the government. Complete with contracts that The Donald is now threatening to cancel.

It was the 'Big Beautiful Bill', the Republican Party's spending bill being debated on Capitol Hill, that precipitated the relations: 'Elon knew all the mechanics from the inside,' said Trump, being called a liar live on X. 'That's false, I didn't know anything about it,' retorted Musk, complaining that 'the bill was passed in the middle of the night, so quickly that hardly anyone had read it.

Trump: "Con Elon Musk avevo bel rapporto, non so se ci sarà ancora"

That the relationship between the two was souring, despite the 'golden key' to the White House given by the president to the billionaire on the day of his farewell to the Washington palaces, had been in the air for days.

"Without me Trump would have lost the election, the Democrats would control the House and the Republicans would be 51 to 49 in the Senate," Elon attacked on X, calling the president "ungrateful". While his behemoth's shares, in the midst of the blizzard, left another 8% on the ground (then closing over 14%), burning some $100 billion in the blink of an eye.

"I don't know if we will have a great relationship anymore," Trump admitted in the Oval Office, returning to defend the Budget manoeuvre, convinced that the Tesla and Space X patron's criticism is related to the zeroing of incentives for electric cars. Not to mention the president's no to Musk's choice of man as head of NASA.

For the billionaire a 'false reconstruction: keep the cuts in incentives for electric vehicles and solar in the law, even if the subsidies for oil and gas are not touched (very unfair!!), but get rid of the mountain of spending of all kinds in the law. Either make a fat and ugly law, or a thin and beautiful law'.

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Musk and the new political party

Still on X, then, Musk's latest provocation, launching a poll that garnered a flood of yeses within minutes: "Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents 80 per cent of the middle population?"

The question, which can be answered for 24 hours, has gone wild, garnering almost 300,000 responses in less than an hour, 84% in favour. Musk, who also played a leading role on the tycoon's swearing-in day, had fallen in love with Trump after his takeover of Twitter: after having dubbed him X, as 'the favourite son', he had adopted positions increasingly in favour of unrestricted freedom of expression, criticising 'liberal censorship' and the Democrats, all topics dear to Trump's heart.

Usa, Trump: "Con Musk avevo grande rapporto, sorpreso da sue critiche"

Last July, after the attack in Pennsylvania on the Republican presidential candidate, Elon had given him the endorsement and since then had spent over 277 million dollars to bring the Maga leader back to the White House: reciprocated, after his victory, with an unlimited mandate to cut American public spending with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DGE). A relationship that seemed stainless but, like many stories, was short-lived.