'Ingratitude'; 'Very disappointed': Trump and Musk exchange insults in public falling-out

LAST UPDATE | 20 hrs ago

A WAR OF words has emerged between the US President Donald Trump and billionaire and former staffer Elon Musk, which sees the pair exchange accusations and insults through social media and the airwaves, over a new public spending policy.

Once allies, Trump and Musk are airing their grievances with each other as they argue over the President’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ – a new spending plan which seeks to add trillions to the country’s ‘debt ceiling’ or borrowing limit.

Musk, on Tuesday, blasted the Trump-backed plan, which is still being debated among those in the US Congress. The world’s richest man called the budget “outrageous” and criticised its supporters.

At a press conference today, Trump was asked about Musk’s criticism.

“I’m very disappointed in Elon,” Trump said. “I’ve helped Elon a lot.”

“Elon knew the inner-workings of this bill better than almost everybody sitting here [...] He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it,” Trump claimed.

“All of a sudden, he had a problem. And he only developed the problem when he found out we’re going to have to cut [electric vehicle tax exemptions] because that is billions and billions of dollars,” he added.

“When that was cut, he became a little be different.”

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Trump suggested Musk misses being in the White House and has “Trump derangement syndrome”. As Trump spoke to reporters at the White House, Musk was watching and commenting online.

“False,” Musk fired back on his social media platform X while Trump was still speaking.

“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 bill could potentially boost budget deficits and the national debt into the future. It also seeks to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and expand them to workers’ tips, state pension cheques and overtime payments.

Musk then claimed Trump would not have won the 2024 election without him – the billionaire reportedly donated $228bn (€199.2bn) to the Republican’s campaign last year – and accused Trump of “ingratitude.”

Tesla shares have fallen sharply on Wall Street, down eight percent, after his comments, in a sign of the huge stakes for a falling out between the two men.

The feud escalated this evening as Trump threatened to remove a number of Musk’s state contracts, causing the billionaire to double down and claim that the construction of a new ‘Orbit’ SpaceX ship would pause immediately.

Musk then replied “yes” to a post which called for Trump’s impeachment and removal from office – with Vice President JD Vance stepping in as his replacement.

Additional reporting by Muiris O’Cearbhaill, AFP and Press Association

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