Initiation
I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2025
* * *
Escalation
Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
Explanations
Elon Musk Urges Americans Take Action to ‘Kill’ Trump Tax Cut Bill Bloomberg
The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer personally appealed to House Speaker Mike Johnson to save the tax credit, the person said, requesting anonymity to discuss a private conversation. The House version of the tax measure calls for largely ending the popular $7,500 electric car subsidies by the end of 2025.
Since losing that battle, Musk ratcheted up his offensive against the president’s signature legislation on Wednesday, urging that Americans contact their lawmakers to “KILL” the legislation, pinning his opposition to the bill’s $2.4 trillion price tag.
“I Am NOT Taking Drugs!” Insists Black-Eyed Elon Musk Following Reports of Physical Altercation With Treasury Secretary and Ketamine/Shrooms/Adderall Use Vanity Fair
It’s been a rough few days for Elon Musk, who appeared at his Oval Office send-off with a black eye he said his son gave him, was the subject of a New York Times profile detailing his messy personal life, and reportedly got into a fight with a Cabinet secretary that at least one person familiar with the matter says became physical. But he would like people to know he is NOT on drugs.
“I am NOT taking drugs!” Musk wrote in a post on X on Saturday, responding to the New York Times story that, in addition to revealing some of the drama that comes with inseminating numerous women as a project to repopulate the earth, alleged copious drug use during Musk’s stint in the political arena. He went on to claim, “The New York Times was lying their ass off,” adding: “I tried *prescription* ketamine a few years ago and said so on X, so this not even news. It helps for getting out of dark mental holes, but haven’t taken it since then.”
The outlet reported that, according to sources familiar with the matter, when Musk jumped on the campaign trail last year, he was “using drugs far more intensely than previously known,” and that he’d “told people he was taking so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use.” He was also reportedly taking ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, and “traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall, according to a photo of the box and people who have seen it.”
Reconsideration?
Musk Signals He’s Open to Cooling-Off Period in Trump Feud Bloomberg
Musk called for Trump’s impeachment and insinuated the president was withholding the release of files related to disgraced New York financier Jeffrey Epstein because of his own presence in them. Trump, in turn, proposed cutting off the billionaire’s government contracts, following his onetime adviser’s repeated exhortations for Republicans to vote against the president’s signature tax legislation.
Trump says he’s focusing on Russia, China, Iran and ‘not thinking about Elon Musk’: ‘I just wish him well’ Le Monde
Responses
As my record on the question will clearly attest, I have never bought into the “Musk Is A Genius” evangel.
But it occurs to me that he has simply been “black-pilled” and is indifferent to the consequences of his mutiny.
He may believe he has “other options” to pursue. 🤔
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) June 6, 2025
“HE IS A FRAUD” Steve Bannon Blasts Elon Musk For Inflating DOGE Numbers And Betraying President Trump Rumble
We Should Immediately Nationalize SpaceX and Starlink Jacobin
…the threats and counterthreats about Musk’s government contracts have been a vivid demonstration of how deeply enmeshed the billionaire’s business empire is with the American state. We should be able to step back from the immediate absurdities of the Trump Show to recognize that this is a much larger problem. There’s no reason it has to be like this. We don’t need to have a privatized space program propped up by state funding. We don’t need vital satellite internet infrastructure to be controlled, through that company, by a single ultrawealthy individual. We can just nationalize SpaceX.
In Godzilla vs. King Kong, Musk Wins Ken Klippenstein
Trump does not hold the cards. Musk, on the other hand, has lots of them. He has a net worth somewhere north of $400 billion, making him the richest man in the world, and he owns Space X, Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink, The Boring Company, and xAI. Even though Musk’s Tesla company lost some 71 percent of its revenue in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year (thanks to citizens voting with their steering wheels), it’s chicken feed for Musk. Trump’s net worth is somewhere around $5 billion, according to Forbes (about one percent of Musk’s wealth). In contrast to Musk, who has pioneered electric vehicles, commercial space, Starlink, AI and now owns a major social media platform, Trump is a real estate “mogul” who has failed at virtually every one of his ventures beyond that.
Why Trump probably can’t cut Musk loose Vox
…unwinding the government’s relationship with Musk’s companies is a near impossibility right now, particularly when it comes to SpaceX. The company is simply better at launching massive numbers of objects into space than any of its competitors, and it’s not close: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was responsible for 84 percent of all satellite launches last year, and the constellation of more than 7,000 Starlink communications satellites accounts for around 65 percent of all operational satellites in orbit.
The US military is also increasingly reliant on SpaceX for mobile internet connectivity via a specialized military-only version of Starlink known as Starshield.
A true Trump-Musk rift would also have implications for “Golden Dome,” the ambitious plan to “protect the homeland” from ballistic missiles, drones, hypersonic cruise missiles, and other aerial threats.
Plans for Golden Dome are still a little vague and no contracts for its construction have been awarded yet, but SpaceX is reportedly a frontrunner to build a constellation of hundreds of new satellites to detect missile launches and determine if they are headed toward the United States, and possibly even intercept them from space.
According to Reuters, SpaceX is bidding for portions of the project in partnership with Anduril and Palantir, two other defense tech companies also led by staunch Trump backers. SpaceX’s vision for the satellite network reportedly envisions it as a “subscription service,” in which the government would pay for access, rather than owning the system outright, a model that would presumably give Musk much more leverage over how Golden Dome is developed and deployed.
How Dems Can Capitalize on the Musk-Trump Catfight The Bulwark
This is how Trump wants to run everything, of course—from the broadest-swath international trade policy down to the nitty-gritty level of individual government contracts. His lodestar is rewarding friends and punishing foes. It’s not even clear that, in his megalomania, he sees this as a different thing from rewarding good work and punishing bad work. Of course it was previously good for the country for the computer and business genius Elon Musk to run everything—it’s obvious what a good, patriotic guy he is from how much he loves Trump. Of course it’s good for the country now to pull the plug on everything Musk touches—tragically, you can tell he’s gone crazy by the fact he criticizes Trump.
Beyond the Trump-Musk fallout? Victor Davis Hanson
What will likely follow? Hopefully a social media truce—followed by intermediaries restoring the friendship but spelling out the limitations and constraints on each that will result in a new less volatile, less intense, but more sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship. Trump is now engaged in high-stakes diplomacy with some of the toughest, slyest, and meanest leaders in the world with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and the Iranian lunatic theocrats. He cannot afford to reach out to Musk and thereby appear to his enemies that he backs down. But if Musk reaches out and wishes to look ahead and not nurse wounds, Trump can certainly be magnanimous and to his credit state that he holds no grudges for what was said in the heat of passion, as he too looks forward to where and when he can help and be helped by Musk in the many areas where their aims are similar. The sane tech crowd, and most of the MAGA base want an end to this aberrant Trump-Musk eruption. Over half the country concurs.
The Elon-Trump Bromance Crashes and Burns The Free Press
Musk’s “disappointment” with the Big Beautiful Bill and the GOP’s enthusiasm for DOGE, it turns out, is a distraction from the real story, which is of a series of conflicts of interest that gets at the heart of the delicate tech bro-MAGA marriage. Indeed, Musk leaving the White House in a flame war shouldn’t be surprising, for Musk’s agenda has—from DOGE’s inception—been at odds with the MAGA platform. On immigration, foreign policy, and economic policy, Musk’s interests, which we have reason to believe he pursued behind the scenes, were always on a collision course with what President Trump viewed as the interests of the United States.
Hell Hath No Fury Like an Elon Scorned Sasha Stone
I have defended Elon Musk so many times on this site. I’ve written about, praised him, and given him so much credit for buying X to give a voice to the voiceless. I have condemned him when he exhibited his emotional immaturity, as he did when he threw yet another hissy fit because Matt Taibbi would not produce work at X. He also threw a hissy fit at Bari Weiss for reporting the truth about him, though the details escape me. Somehow, I could overlook these things. I understood him as a complicated person, but look at him now. He is giving the Democrats everything they need for a blue wave. He never cared about “gender affirming care” or the “woke mind virus” at all. He cares about his fragile widdle boy ego. What a huge disappointment.
Vice President JD Vance | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #588
J.D. Vance: First of all I’m the vice president to President Trump my loyalties are always going to be with the president. I think that Elon, he’s an incredible entrepreneur. He’s actually done… I think Doge was really good. The sort of effort to root out waste fraud and abuse in our country was really good. Look man I’m always going to be loyal to the president and I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not possible now because he’s gone so nuclear.
I think number one, Elon’s new to politics, right? So his businesses are being attacked non-stop. They’re literally like firebombing some of his cars and by the way we’re looking into a lot of the stuff.
I mean some of that stuff we’re looking into is an act of terrorism at the Department of Justice. I think part of it is this guy got into politics and has suffered a lot for it, and I get the frustration there. Look Congress, you got this spending bill, but the main purpose of the bill is not actually spending or cutting spending, though it does cut a lot of spending.
The main purpose of the bill is to prevent the biggest tax increase. It’s a good bill. It’s not a perfect bill. The process in DC, if you’re a business leader you probably get frustrated with that process because it’s more bureaucratic. It’s more slow moving.
But I really think it’s a huge mistake for him to go after the president like that and I think that if he and the president are in some blood feud, most importantly it’s going to be bad for the country. I don’t think it’s going to be good for Elon either.
Elon Musk Has Had PTSD Since Leaving WH, And He’s Just Finding Any Which Way To Get Back At Trump New York Post
MIRANDA DEVINE, NEW YORK POST: No, it’s not at all. And look, it’s not terribly surprising. He’s a hugely intelligent man with a lot of achievements, but he really is a giant baby.
I remember Donald Trump had a sort of paternal relationship with him and said at one point that, he said, I don’t want to be rude, but he is a bit of a child. And he’s acting like a child right now, having a tantrum and lashing out in the nastiest way he possibly can and saying things that he can never undo. And I feel like what really happened was that daddy, Donald Trump, took sides in an argument he was having with Scott Bessent, which apparently got very willing.
Elon Musk shoved Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary. They were screaming and shouting and swearing outside the Oval Office, right outside Susie Wiles’ office. And after that, obviously, Donald Trump had to choose sides and he chose Scott Bessent’s side.
Consequences
Elon Musk’s Feud With Trump Spurs One of His Worst Wealth Losses Ever Bloomberg
Minute by minute, post by post, Elon Musk’s very public, extremely online feud with President Donald Trump sliced into his vaunted status as the world’s richest person.
The final damage at day’s end: $34 billion erased from his personal net worth, the second-largest loss ever in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the 500 wealthiest people on the planet. The only bigger one: his own wipeout in November 2021.
8 Ways Musk and Trump Could Inflict Pain on Each Other New York Times
What Musk Could Do
Wield his billions against Mr. Trump, his allies and his agenda.
Use social media as an irritant.
Drag Mr. Trump into controversy.
Use his companies to inconvenience the administration.What Trump Could Do
Cut contracts with Mr. Musk’s companies.
Investigate Mr. Musk’s immigration status and drug use.
Revoke Mr. Musk’s security clearance.
Wield the power of the presidency against him.
Triumphing under Trump: the corporate winners and losers Financial Times
Twenty weeks into the second term of a president who promised to make America great again, many of the big stock market winners hail from outside the US. European defence companies and Chinese technology giants are among those prospering from — or despite — Donald Trump’s policies; Silicon Valley contains some winners, but many losers too.
Tesla -$304bn USAutomobiles $1,068bn End market cap -22% Market cap change Trump impact Elon Musk bankrolled Trump’s re-election campaign and Tesla’s stock initially soared on optimism about the First Buddy’s influence in the White House. However, a combination of tariffs hobbling Tesla’s supply chain, an end to electric vehicle subsidies and a visceral consumer backlash to Musk’s antics at Doge have caused sales and shares to plunge. A chastened Musk has stepped back from politics and returned to Texas to revive Tesla, which is pivoting from cars to self-driving “Cybercabs” and humanoid AI-powered robots. But Thursday night’s spectacular blow-up between Musk and Trump sent investors scurrying for the exit.
Musk’s DOGE Goons Surreptitiously Transmitted Reams of White House Data Daily Beast
Elon Musk’s goons at the Department of Government Efficiency transmitted a large amount of data—all of it undetected—using a Starlink Wi-Fi terminal they installed on top of the White House, according to a new report.
…insiders suggested that the move was intended to bypass White House systems that track the transmission of data—with names and time stamps—and secure it from spies. “Starlink doesn’t require anything. It allows you to transmit data without any kind of record or tracking,” one insider told the Post. “White House IT systems had very strong controls on network access. You had to be on a full-tunnel VPN at all times. If you are not on the VPN, White House-issued devices can’t connect to the outside.” “With a Starlink connection, that means White House devices could leave the network and go out through gateways,“ the person said. “It’s going to help you bypass security.”
Russian Pundits Worry the Trump-Musk Feud Might Harm Russia
The reaction of Bannon, a man who remains perhaps the main ideologist of Trumpism, is very indicative. He felt a threat, and this is not a threat from the left, this is not a threat from Democrats. This is a threat from the right. This is a threat to split off the right flank from Trump. What this could ultimately lead to and how this could be dangerous for (Russia) …Trump will have to look for a replacement to stabilize his political trajectory, of his political flight. When you break off one wing, you need to urgently take some action.
On whom Trump will lean, well, there is no doubt. He will lean on that very Republican Party. Already in about a year in US midterm elections he needs to save at least one chamber of Congress.
Now that same (“Big Beautiful”) bill is in the Senate and what is today the Senate is a nest of hawks. This is a nest of Russophobes. This is Lindsay Graham from the Republican Party. This is in general one hawkish party.
And the danger here is that a being uh well, let’s say pushed away from Musk, from people who, in general, profess an ideology that is very skeptical of globalists.
We all remember Musk’s statement, including Zelensky. Trump due to such dialectic of the process itself will be forced to unite with the state. Who knows or maybe they will make him an offer which he ultimately will not be able to refuse to accept reality and vote for that same uh law on the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions and then they will slip him a package of continuation of military aid to Ukraine. Yes, Musk also has untied hands. Well, for example, he will be able to do what he has long hinted at and pull off the disabling of Starlink. Who knows if he really will.
